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.