Hospital keeps patient for not paying medical costs
Hospital keeps patient for not paying medical costs
JAKARTA (JP): Labor activists have come to the aid of a female worker in Bogor who is being detained by a hospital for not being able to pay her medical expenses.
Mochtar Pakpahan, chairman of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), said that his organization would help the worker, Denik Astuti, leave the Bina Husada hospital in Cibinong, 40 km south of here.
"I will ask the hospital management to release Astuti under the guarantee of SBSI," he told The Jakarta Post yesterday, adding that he would come to the hospital today.
The government does not recognize SBSI because SPSI (All Indonesian Workers Union) has been declared the sole organization for local workers.
Mochtar said SBSI would also ask Astuti's employer, PT Samick Indonesia, to pay medical treatment costs.
According to him, the company must take responsibility for its workers' medical treatment costs. Moreover, Astuti went to the hospital on the recommendation of the factory's clinic doctor.
"SBSI will sue PT Samick Indonesia if it refuses to pay the costs," he said.
Mochtar also blamed the company for not covering its workers under PT Astek, the state-owned workers insurance plan.
Chairul Bey, the secretary of SPSI's Bogor branch, told the Antara news agency over the weekend that Astuti would already be back home if the hospital and PT Samick Indonesia knew how to handle the medical costs.
The hospital management was not available for comment.
Astuti was taken to the hospital on Dec. 14 by her colleagues for an appendicitis.
Letter
However, after the operation, PT Samick Indonesia sent a letter to the hospital saying that it would not take responsibility for the medical treatment, Chairul said.
Astuti recovered after ten days of treatment, Chairul said.
"But she has had to stay because she could not afford Rp 1.5 million (US$646) for the treatment, while the company she works for refuses to pay," he said.
The private hospital has asked her not to leave until the problem is solved, Chairul added.
The head of PT Astek's Bogor branch, Djoko Sungkono, said he was very concerned and that he had no idea why the company did not let its workers join the insurance plan. (29/sur)