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)