Thu, 08 Sep 1994

Red Cross's hospital in Bogor due for renovations soon

BOGOR (JP): The worn-down, 60-year old Indonesian Red Cross Hospital in Bogor will soon undergo a face-lift in a drive to improve services and provide more decent facilities to its patients.

Chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) Ibnu Sutowo told reporters yesterday the renovations and additional buildings would cost some Rp 35 billion ($16 million), most of which was expected to come from donations.

"We also expect to obtain Rp 100 or Rp 200 million from bank loans, which we hope can be repaid gradually from our operational earnings," he added.

Since the hospital's financial condition did not allow the project to be finished in a single stage, the renovations will be completed under a seven-phase plan that will run until 2000, he said.

The renovations will officially commence next week in a ceremony attended by First Lady Mrs. Tien Soeharto.

Founded in 1931 by the Dutch Red Cross group, the hospital has only been renovated once in 1964.

The facility is legally a private institution but employs civil servants including government physicians. It is the only PMI hospital in Indonesia, although it has a smaller unit on Galang Island, in Riau, which was opened to treat Indochinese refugees.

Ibnu admitted the hospital's poor management was the major reason for its poor physical performance and service. However, he also acknowledged that there had been improvements made over the last four years, after a workers' cooperative was established in 1990.

It has also started to turn a profit, a major breakthrough considering it had been operating in the red for most of its existence. Now, Ibnu said, it can afford to provide pension funds and low-cost housing for some of its employees, which now total 655 persons.

Oversees donations have also helped fund the procurement of more modern equipment, Ibnu said.

Emergency unit

The renovations will mainly focus on improving and expanding the hospital's emergency unit and ambulance service.

Located just outside the gates of the Jagorawi toll road, a large number of the hospital's patients are victims of highway accidents which tend to peak over the weekends. Three to four deaths are said to occur in the emergency units everyday.

"Just as important as the hospital care is how to quickly and safely get the victims to the hospital. This is why we have more ambulance units than other hospitals," Ibnu said.

PMI Hospital has six ambulances, including one standing by at the scenic Puncak highway -- the road between Bogor and Bandung which is often crowded at weekends.

The renovations will take up all the land belonging to PMI, which measures 37,601 square meters. Currently only 6,722 sq.m. are occupied by the hospital's buildings.

Statistics show that Bogor's residents need at least 2,137 hospital beds but, currently, only 673 are available.

However, the new buildings will add least add 500 beds to this number.

The renovations will include a general facilities unit, comprising rooms such as kitchens and religious quarters, a seven-story VIP section, emergency and polyclinic units, operation rooms, office buildings and a training center.(pwn)