'Hospitals tend to exploit patients'

Many poor people say that hospitals, including those run by the state, offer them inferior services because they do not have the money to pay for quality health care. The Jakarta Post spoke with a number of residents about the issue.

Marius Widjajarta, 51, is a doctor and head of the Indonesian Health Consumers Empowerment Foundation. He lives in Bintaro, Tangerang, with his wife and son:

I can't deny that many profit-oriented hospitals tend to exploit patients, maybe by offering health care packages.

I'm afraid all hospitals will become more profit-oriented with regional autonomy because they will be a source of income for the provinces or regencies/municipalities.

There is a basic principle that hospitals must not turn away patients in emergency cases, even if they do not have the money to pay for their care. But this does not work at all. Hospitals can act like the mafia because there are no regulations on medical services.

There needs to be some kind of cross-subsidy from the rich to allow the poor to have access to health care. But consumers are not aware of this because of the lack of a public campaign.

I think an improved health insurance system would curb this kind of exploitation because insurance companies would have to scrutinize the hospitals' claims.

Rita, 27, is a medical doctor at a clinic in Kalibaru, Central Jakarta. She lives in Salemba, Central Jakarta, with her husband:

I disagree with the discriminatory practices of many hospitals nowadays. Patients should be the first priority and the financial negotiations can come after that.

The health of patients is far more important than their social status and financial standing.

I cannot deny that many hospitals are like shopping centers, selling various treatments to make a profit.

Hospitals have no reason to reject patients, even if they can't make a down payment. They can recommend the patients to another hospital, but don't refuse them.

Every hospital should have a program to help the poor.

But the patients must also cooperate. If their condition is not an emergency, they must be understanding about getting slower treatment. Usually patients insist on being seen first even if there are other patients who are more critical.

Opi, 29, works for a company in South Jakarta. She lives in Tangerang with her family:

When my grandmother was in the emergency room of a hospital in Central Jakarta, the nurses asked me to pay Rp 250,000 (US$29.41) for medicine every day. But they refused to show me the medicine or the prescription, even when I insisted.

The administrative staff also refused to provide copies of the prescription.

I suspect that hospitals blackmail patients' families, who are already paying Rp 500,000 a day for their loved ones to be treated in the emergency room.

During my grandmother's three-week stay in the hospital, we rarely saw any doctors coming to check on her. But the hospital charged us hundreds of thousands of rupiah for doctor examinations.

We paid Rp 40 million and my grandmother died the third week she was in the hospital. We had to pay the hospital bill even though it had exploited my grandmother to make money.

-- Leo Wahyudi S.