Kidney patients worried

Kidney patients worried

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): Hundreds of local patients
with kidney failure are in great danger because of the soaring
cost of medical treatment, relatives said.

They said that the price for dialysis had skyrocketed to
between Rp 600,000 and Rp 1 million (US$67 to $111) from Rp
300,000 before the economic crisis began last July.

Patients participating in the state-owned Askes insurance
program are now required to pay an additional fee ranging from Rp
100,000 to Rp 300,000 because the standard fund it provides is no
longer adequate.

The head of the provincial health office, Mustafa Djide, said
that the government could not control medical costs in private
hospitals but stressed that costs in public hospitals had not
officially changed.

However, he said, he had been overwhelmed by requests from
public hospital managers to adjust medical costs because of the
inevitable increasing price of medical equipment and supplies.

"There's not much we can do (to help public hospitals). What
we can do is to suggest that they consolidate to overcome the
problem," he told reporters.

He called on private hospitals to keep their prices at
"reasonable levels". (30)