Impoverished addicts to get free treatment

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Drug addicts who come from poor families have been included among those to qualify for free medical treatment under the government's program to compensate for the fuel subsidy reduction, Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi said on Saturday.

Sujudi said that hospitals appointed under the program could not shut their doors to poor drug addicts, who, like other patients, had the right to health services.

He said he had received reports from the management of South Jakarta Drug Addiction Clinic that none of its patients last year came from the lower income group.

"Probably drug addicts from disadvantaged families did not seek medical treatment at the special hospital because they were not informed about the government program or too afraid that their condition might become public knowledge," Sujudi said.

The minister asked drug addiction clinics to take the initiative by sending medical staff into the field to seek poor drug addicts and provide them with free medical assistance.

Under the previous social safety net program, the government offered free medical services to drug addicts who could not afford to pay the rehabilitation fees.

The government has allocated Rp 500 billion (US$48 million) this year from savings from the state's fuel subsidy reduction to provide medical services for the country's 37.3 million poor. The funds will be distributed to 468 mainly state hospitals and 7,000 public health centers nationwide between February and April.

Of the amount, Rp 326 billion will be allocated to health services, Rp 130 billion to provide generic medicines, Rp 35 billion to provide Hepatitis B vaccines and the remaining Rp 9 billion for support expenditure.

Unlike last year, the poor will no longer be required to produce a letter from local authorities explaining their eligibility to receive free medical treatment. Instead, the hospitals themselves should verify whether the patients are eligible for the services.

Sujudi said, during the launch of the program on Friday, that nonappointed hospitals also had to give treatment to the poor in emergency cases.