Hospitals criticized for malpractice

Hospitals criticized for malpractice

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Chairman of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) Farid Anfasa
Moeloek warned on Friday that a good number of hospitals in
Jakarta and several other cities had allegedly committed
fraudulent practices.

Farid, a former health minister, based his allegation on the
excessive number of Caesarean operations conducted on women.

Declining to identify the hospitals, Farid said 90 percent of
women who delivered their babies underwent a Caesarean in those
hospitals, while the normal percentage should stand at only 15
percent.

"It is apparent that the hospital has done the operations in
order to rake in more money. This practice must be halted
immediately," Farid told reporters after addressing a seminar
held by Pluit General Hospital in North Jakarta.

A Caesarean costs around Rp 4 million, but could be higher in
the more upmarket hospitals.

Marius Widjajarta, the chairman of the Indonesian Health
Consumers Foundation, told The Jakarta Post that the practice was
a public secret. He said it was related to tight competition
among hospitals.

According to Marius, in some cases patients themselves asked
for a Caesarean as they felt that it was the safest way to
deliver a baby. "However, despite the request, hospitals should
advise the patients whether they really need such an operation or
not," he said.

Marius called on people to be more aware of these practices
and to take legal action if they felt hospitals or doctors had
misguided or deceived them, as stipulated in Law No. 8/1999 on
consumer protection.

Farid, who is also an obstetrician, demanded that the
government provide a legal umbrella to deter hospitals from
taking advantage of patients' lack of knowledge.

Besides the consumer protection law, the government should
introduce a medical audit system in the country, he said.

A medical audit would allow the authorities to detect
malpractice. The audit should be carried out by an independent
team of medical practitioners, clinics and hospitals.

"The government should incorporate the medical audit into the
bill on medical practices now being drafted," said Farid.

He said the United Kingdom was one of the countries which had
already adopted a medical audit, and suggested that Indonesia
follow suit.