Many people counterfeit health cards: Official

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The head of Jakarta's Health Agency, Abdul Chalik Masulili, said that health cards, a service for poor people in the capital, were often faked and could easily be found at state-owned health centers and hospitals.

Chalik said he received reports from hospitals and district health centers that many patients used fake health cards to get health services for free.

"We know when the health cards are fake because the holders are not able to show supporting documents like identity cards and family cards. If we asked them to take the documents from their homes, they would never come back to hospital," Chalik told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

There are three hospitals run by the city administration included Pasar Rebo Hospital in East Jakarta, Tarakan Hospital in Central Jakarta, Koja hospital in North Jakarta. All district health centers also function like hospitals.

A health card, which is locally known as Kartu Sehat, is given by the city administration to low income families. A man with a health card can receive health services, including surgery free of charge from state-owned hospitals and other public health centers.

According to Chalik, he also received reports from hospitals that there were some people who offered health cards with prices ranging from Rp 50,000 to Rp 100,000.

"The report I have received also says that scalpers often offer fake health cards to patients being hospitalized," according to Chalik. But he added that so far no suspect had been arrested over the case.

He said the current health cards were easy to counterfeit as their application form were very simple and did require holders to display a photograph.

Therefore, Chalik added, his office would introduce a new form of health cards, which would not be so easy to fake. "We will introduce them as soon as possible," he said, without mentioning any date.

Based on data from the Jakarta Bureau of Statistics (BPS Jakarta), there are some 340,697 poor people, or some 101,674 poor families in Jakarta.

Of 101,674 families, only 68,692 have the right to receive health cards as the other families had not been able to show the required documents.