Hospital denies charging patients

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State-run Harapan Kita Hospital in West Jakarta denied a report that it had continued to charge poor dengue fever patients in spite of a nationwide program that provided free medical treatment.

Hospital spokeswoman Marina Sidabutar told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the hospital continued to provide free medical treatment to dengue patients staying in the third-class ward.

"Dengue patients placed in third-class will automatically get free treatment. It doesn't matter whether or not they obtain letters from subdistrict offices proving they are poor," she said.

However, if laboratory test results showed patients did not suffer from dengue, then they had to pay for treatment, she said.

The Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), Jakarta Pedicab Association and the Jakarta Poor Residents Network issued a report on Friday that dengue patients at the hospital had to pay between Rp 400,000 (US$46.5) and Rp 680,000 for a three-day treatment in the third-class ward.

Marina said there was a possibility that the laboratory test results contradicted patients' claims they suffered from dengue.

However, she also admitted there might be a misunderstanding between hospital administrators and patients about the costs of medical treatment.

"Why would we charge the patients if we get a full reimbursement from the Jakarta Health Agency to treat the patients?" she said.

Marina said if the patients truly suffered from dengue fever and had to pay for third-class ward treatment, the hospital would return the money as long as the patients could show all the receipts, the doctor's examination results and their ID cards.

The UPC has however insisted on reporting the alleged violations to the health agency.

"We will report hospitals violating the policy including the Harapan Kita Hospital and the Suliyanti Saroso Hospital for Infectious Disease to the agency. We checked with the patients and they never received receipts," the UPC's Berkah Gamulya told the Post.

According to Gamulya, the UPC had reported its findings to the hospital but had received no response. The hospital administrators claimed they did not respond quickly to the report "due to the huge amount of dengue patients admitted to the hospital".

The UPC is currently collecting evidence about the case.