Agus Maryono and Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Banyumas, Bandarlampung | Wed, 09/30/2009 1:18 PM
The Banyumas Legislative Council in Central Java has strongly criticized Banyumas Regent Mardjoko for halting the distribution of health care cards (SKTM) to low-income citizens in his regency.
Residents in the low-income bracket previously used SKTM cards to access cheap health care at hospitals and community health clinics in Banyumas.
"This is definitely not a popular move and hurts low-income citizens. He should have issued a policy that sided with the poor, rather than do the opposite and deprive the common people," Subagyo, the head of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) at the council, said on Tuesday.
Mardjoko issued a policy to revoke SKTM cards for poor residents this month.
Until now, SKTM cards have been issued by the people's welfare division of the local administration.
The regent's decision to stop issuing the cards, said Subagyo, had already claimed the lives of two patients because they could not afford to pay for the medication they needed. "We have received the report. Many people refuse to get treatment because they cannot afford it," said Subagyo.
Agus Nurhadi, spokesman for Banyumas regency administration, said his office had revoked the SKTM policy because the budget for poor people's health care was depleted.
"This year we set aside Rp 3 billion *US$300,000* for the SKTM program, but we have run out of the funds, so the regent asked for the program to be suspended," Agus told The Jakarta Post, adding that the funds had been allocated to 400,000 low-income citizens in Banyumas.
A number of communities in Lampung have welcomed the House of Representatives' recent passing of the Hospital Law, especially people from low-income brackets.
Under the new law, there are no longer first, second and VIP classes of treatment, as all classes are recognized as third class.
The law also stipulates private hospitals have to allocate 25 percent of their wards to third class patients.
Residents from the middle-to-low-income brackets expect the new law will guarantee better services at state-run hospitals.
"Low-income bracket residents have so far been discriminated against when seeking treatment. State-run hospitals often reject them because they cannot afford to pay the down payment," said Subadrayani Mursalin, head of the Lampung chapter of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), on Tuesday.
