West Sumatra's poor miss out

West Sumatra's poor miss out
on social compensation fund

Debbie A. Lubis
The Jakarta Post
Padang

Lack of awareness of government-provided health facilities among
the poor in West Sumatra has deprived them of free medication, an
official has said.

Chairman of West Sumatra health office Abdul Rival said on
Wednesday that only 42,624 of 601,500 poor patients in that
province had benefited from the government's health fund in 2001.

"It means only 23 percent of poor people in West Sumatra were
aware of this facility," said Abdul, adding that his office had
disbursed only 20 percent of the Rp 11.88 billion special health
budget for the province in 2001.

The funds were part of Rp 50.7 billion that West Sumatra, a
province of four million people, received in 2001 in order to
cushion the impact on poor people of the government's decision to
reduce the fuel subsidy.

The administration of President Megawati Soekarnoputri has
allocated about Rp 2.85 trillion for social compensation funds in
sectors such as health, education, food and social welfare.

Abdul said the provincial administration had issued a total of
420,000 health cards to poor people since September 2001, which
would allow them to get free medical services in 17 government-
owned hospitals, one clinic for lung-related diseases and one eye
clinic.

However, he admitted that officials at the district level
sometimes gave health cards to people who could afford health
services.

"We cannot control the process 100 percent, but we have built
some centers, based on public suggestions on the use of the
social compensation fund, especially in the health sector," Abdul
said.

Yunibas and Muslim, patients at M. Djamil Hospital in Padang,
said on Wednesday that the health funds were a great help to
them.

Yunibas, 47, whose husband is unemployed, has to be
hospitalized because of a kidney problem. She said the hospital
did not charge her for the medical services she needed.

Muslim's orphan grandson, who suffered dengue fever, also got
free medication at the hospital.

Head of public medical services at M. Djamil Hospital Aguswan
said on Wednesday that the government should prioritize the
illnesses that benefited from the health funds.

"Maybe this fund is not suitable for patients with cancer,
because the treatment is so costly. If we gave the funds to
patients with that kind of illness, only a few would benefit," he
said.

Coordinating Minister for Social Affairs Yusuf Kalla said on
Wednesday, during his visit to West Sumatra to publicize the
social compensation fund, that it was there to help mitigate the
impact of the fuel price hike on the poor.

The raising of fuel prices triggers a rise in transportation
costs and the price of other basic commodities, thus creating a
huge burden, particularly for low income people already suffering
from three years of economic hardship, he said.

Yusuf said that poor families would experience an increase in
their expenses of around Rp 150,000, due to the rise of Rp 200 in
the fuel price.

"We should help them via social compensation funds, otherwise
the country cannot accelerate its recovery," he said, adding that
currently there were 40 million poor people across the country.

The fuel subsidy in the 2002 state budget is set at Rp 30.5
trillion, down from Rp 53.77 trillion last year.