Regional hospitals form association

Regional hospitals form association

JAKARTA (JP): A national meeting of state-owned regional hospitals agreed on Friday to form the Association of Regional Hospitals (Arsada) in anticipation of the enactment of the autonomy law in January.

Unanimously voted in as chairman of the new association was Umar Wahid, director of East Jakarta's Pasar Rebo Regional Hospital.

"This association will consist of some 380 regional hospitals (about 80 percent of all hospitals in the country) located in 28 provinces," Umar said after the closing of the three-day meeting.

"We will function as a mediator between the hospitals and the government," Umar, who is also the younger brother of President Abdurrahman Wahid, said.

Besides medical practitioners, the meeting was attended by over 100 regents from across the country to share their views on the management and services of the hospitals.

"The hospitals must be given a free rein to develop themselves. Their profits must be used to run self-sufficient hospitals and later they can be turned into provincial-owned companies which will enable them to provide low-cost health service for patients," Umar said.

The management of the hospitals in each region, however, will depend on a further consensus between the hospitals and the local councils and administrations, he said.

"So far, only those in Jakarta, West Java, Central Java and East Java are ready to face the era of decentralization.

"Therefore during this meeting we also agreed that regional hospitals must maintain their social services for the lower- classes, and at least 50 percent of beds in each hospital must be available for third-class rooms," Umar said.

A. Chalik Masulili, who is the director of North Jakarta's Koja Hospital, reiterated the need for hospitals to provide more beds at the lowest cost.

"About 65 percent of 275 rooms in Koja Hospital are available for third-class rooms, and we only have two VIP rooms.

"As in Pasar Rebo Hospital, the rate for third-class rooms is Rp 9,000 per person, including three meals a day plus the required treatments and medicine.

"If the cost is paid by a company, the third-class room is Rp 14,000 with the same facilities," Chalik said.

The meeting also recommended structural changes to make hospital administrations less bureaucratic, and the issuance of a special government regulation on regional hospitals to establish proper sanctions for those hospitals that refuse to treat the poor. (edt)