Higher fees for 3rd-class at private hospitals seen

JAKARTA (JP): Officials and members of the medical profession say the city's fees for third-class services at private hospitals are far too low to cover costs.

The fees, which include the daily room charge of Rp 35,000, were set in 1996.

They were responding to complaints to the City Council that a number of hospitals already have raised fees for their third- class services ahead of changes to the relevant city regulation.

First and second classes at hospitals are not regulated by the government. Third-class services at government hospitals are Rp 15,000 a day.

Councilor A.H. Ishak, deputy of Commission E for social affairs, said with the higher costs, patients at private hospitals would expect better service.

The head of the City's Health Agency, Deddy Ruswendy, said a 10 percent to 20 percent increase of the fees was needed, given the high cost of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.

"We are still drafting the new fees, which might involve cross-subsidization from the first and second class hospital services," Deddy said during a meeting with the council's Commission E.

He said the new fees would include hospitalization, medical services, surgery and other treatments.

The daily room charge has been raised from Rp 35,000 to Rp 50,000 at a number of hospitals, he added.

A third-class room has at least four beds, a fan and other standard facilities.

Deddy said a team of managers from nine private hospitals and representatives of health organizations in Jakarta has been set up to draw up the proposed fee hike.

The chairman of the Indonesian Hospital Association (Persi), A.W. Budiarso, said the proposed increase was necessary to help avoid even higher fees randomly set by hospitals.

Dady Tirtono, the chairman of the Association of Hospitals in Jakarta, said the proposal, once circulated among hospital management, "would need several adjustments".

Dady said one problem in drawing up the new fees was the different facilities and services provided by each hospital.

"There is no standard," Dady said.

He said the new rule also would include the necessary measures to be taken against hospitals raising their third-class fees ahead of new city regulation.

"It's clear that they can't be closed down," he said, referring to the measure that could be taken against other businesses violating city rules.

The capital has nine state-run hospitals, four city-run hospitals, nine military hospitals, five state-companies hospitals and 72 private hospitals.

Councillor H.A. Halim Asyhari from the National Mandate Party (PAN) said hospital management needed to be transparent.

He cited the common occurrence of poor people coming to hospitals only to find the third-class rooms were full, forcing them to resort to more expensive rooms without adequate information of the additional costs involved.

Currently, there are 2,414 beds for third-class services in Jakarta's private hospitals, or 29.4 percent of the 8,204 total beds.

Meanwhile, a member of Persi's board, Robert Imam Sutedja, said on Monday fees should be increased according to the rising cost of medicine.

"It will burden hospitals if the fees are not increased," he said during a break in the four-day Persi congress. (07/hdn)