PMI loses Rp 50m monthly

BOGOR (JP): The PMI (Indonesian Red Cross) Hospital here has lost some Rp 50 million (US$6,250) every month due to patients' unpaid bills, a hospital executive said on Tuesday.

Hospital deputy director Dani Yusuf Haryanto said the huge losses were mainly because patients or patients' families were unwilling to pay the entire bill and claimed they were too poor.

Another reason for losses was that some patients often ran away without paying at all, he said.

A surgical operation cost Rp 3 million, he said. "But there was a patient who only paid Rp 100,000 for it," Dani said.

"If there's a poor patient who cannot afford to pay, we usually ask him to pay in installments. But if he's still incapable to do so ... we eventually let him go," Dani said.

Some hospital staff members checked the houses of patients who claimed to be destitute and learned that they were actually wealthy, he said.

Most of the city's poor seeking medical treatment go to PMI Hospital.

"Even a dead beggar was sent to our morgue. We're functioning as a general hospital when actually we are a private hospital with a limited budget and no government subsidies," he said.

Dani said the hospital worried if the surging amount of unpaid bills would lead to financial difficulties with the management being unable to pay the salaries of its 700 employees.

The hospital charges Rp 100,000 per day for a first class room, Rp 75,000 for second class and Rp 30,000 for third class. Rooms for VIPs vary from Rp 125,000 to Rp 250,000 per day. (21/edt)