Poor promised free health services
Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Health Ministry secured Rp 500 billion (US$48 million) this year from the state's fuel subsidy reduction to provide medical services for the country's 37.3 million poor.
The funds will be distributed directly to 468 mainly state- owned hospitals and 7,000 public health centers throughout Indonesia, starting February but only till April, Minister of Health Achmad Suyudi said Friday.
"We hope to be able to reach all of the poor people who could not afford medical services," Suyudi said.
Aside from the usual medical services, the program also covers Hepatitis B immunization for infants from disadvantaged families.
As a means of monitoring the funds, the hospitals and public health services are required to provide monthly financial reports to the Ministry of Health.
Unlike last year, however, the poor would no longer be required to produce a letter from local authorities explaining their status to receive medical treatment.
Suyudi said all hospitals appointed to provide such services were told not to discriminate against poor patients.
"Hospitals should not differentiate treatment between the poor patients and the paying patients. Everyone must be given the same services, with or without a health card," Suyudi stressed.
The minister said that the hospitals should form a team that would verify whether the patients were eligible for ongoing treatment or not.
When asked about poor people in emergency situations who could not reach the appointed hospitals, Suyudi said that any hospital had to give treatment to all emergency patients, including the poor.
"It is unethical for hospitals to reject those in need of immediate medical treatment. The hospitals who do not receive this fund must at least provide first aid, and it could later transfer the patient to hospitals that receive government funds," he said.
He noted that the hospitals that give first aid should be reimbursed. However, the technicalities were still being discussed.
Hospitals, including private hospitals, were also required to allocate a certain number of beds in their third class sections for the poor, he said.
Therefore, there should be no problem for any hospital to give first aid to poor patients.
This, however, raises questions on the effectiveness of the program. Last year's health services for the poor program failed as many hospitals rejected poor patients despite the fact that they had received funding.
Private hospitals often refuse to attend patients from the lower-income classes, while the dilapidated state-run hospitals often offer only poor quality services.
"We'd look into it... and when there is such a thing, we would send a stern warning letter to the hospital," Suyudi said.
"The condition in the field in very unpredictable, and there is no such thing as a perfect system."