Indonesia needs law on medical malpractice
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman and prominent physician Kartono Mohamad stood firmly behind their campaign on Saturday to seek a new law to help cope with the growing problem of medical malpractice.
In the seminar Kartono and Oetojo shared the opinion that such a law would help minimize cases of malpractice which are currently difficult to resolve due to the absence of legal precedent.
Oetojo, who opened the one-day seminar, said the right to receive sound medical services was a basic right of every citizen.
"As part of our basic social rights, medical services must be protected by law... This is where the relationship between medical and legal services becomes relevant," he said.
Kartono, a senior executive of the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) said a solution to malpractice was especially difficult in private hospitals where the employment status of doctors is not always clearly defined.
"The increasing awareness of the public about their right to high-quality, responsible service is reflected in the increasing number of complaints about malpractice," he said.
The seminar on doctor-hospital relations was held to commemorate Pondok Indah Hospital's eighth anniversary. The well- equipped hospital in the posh housing complex area is largely regarded as an alternative to overseas treatment for those who can afford it.
Kartono pointed out that regulations were also needed to prevent private hospitals from merely seeking profit and neglecting their social obligations.
Many social foundations, which by law should be non-profit, are currently used by many as a means to establish profit- oriented private hospitals.
In such hospitals, he said, doctors -- almost all of whom are civil servants -- work on either a full-time or part-time basis with no clear guidelines as to how much responsibility they have to bear as a consequence of their practices.
"Regulations should be made to clarify whether it is the doctor, the hospital, the foundation or even the patient who is responsible for malpractice," Kartono said.
Scapegoat
J. Guwandi of the Indonesian Association of Medical Law said each case of malpractice must be objectively assessed and should not be used for the sake of finding a scapegoat.
According to Guwandi, one must look at possibilities of negligence, ignorance or whether it was a medical accident stemming from an inherently risky case.
He felt, however, that medical law should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis and should not be generalized.
"There are many factors involved," he said, "such as complications, the patient's age and endurance and the doctor's professional ability and diagnosis".
Chairman of the Indonesian Hospital Association Samsi Jacobalis said private hospitals had no choice but to be profit- oriented in order to ensure their survival.
"Private hospitals must balance their rates for the wealthier and poorer patients... This is a form of the hospital's social function," he said.
The ministry of health requires all hospitals to allocate at least 25 percent of their beds to poor people, who are entitled to free medical services. Many hospitals, he said, in fact allocated more than this share.
He added, however, many of these beds, especially in the more luxurious hospitals, were unoccupied because poor people were reluctant to enter such places. (pwn/anr)