Sulianti Saroso hospital needs money to maintain service

The Sulianti Saroso Hospital, the only one in the country that has adequate facilities and expertise for treating bird flu patients, is struggling to maintain the quality of its services due to financial constraints.

The hospital has yet to be paid by the government for the treatment provided free of charge to dozens of suspected and confirmed bird flu patients since August.

Hospital spokesman Ilham Patu said on Monday that the hospital could not turn away new patients to save money.

"We will never reject a patient if he or she is suspected of having bird flu despite the late payment by the government. Also, we will maintain the quality of treatment provided, just like before," he told The Jakarta Post.

However, he said that he had no idea how long the hospital could hold on if the current situation persisted.

As the government has required all bird flu patients to be treated free of charge since September 19, the hospital has so far covered all the costs of around 70 bird flu patients since then.

Patu said that bird flu patients received treatment for between four and 45 days.

The cost of treating 70 patients ran to hundreds of millions of rupiah, with the cost of treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) being Rp 105,000 per day, not including medicines.

Of 12 bird flu patients nationwide confirmed by the World Health Organization, seven had been treated at the Sulianti Saroso Hospital.

Patu, however, denied a report that only one of the hospital's respirators could be used, saying that all four machines were working well.

Earlier, Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari said that the reimbursement of the hospital was being processed but that it would take time.

She said that the money would be taken from the 2005 state budget, not from the Rp 40 billion special fund set up to finance the fight against bird flu. -- Abdul Khalik