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Sri Lankan boat person, one of 250 moored in Indonesian waters for the past 11 weeks, has died after reportedly being denied access to medical care.

The Indonesian Foreign Ministry said the 29-year-old man, identified only as Yakob, had died of natural causes.

"He died in hospital, so we did give him medical help," ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said Friday.

"We're preparing to send his body back to Sri Lanka."

Antara reported Saturday that Yakob's body was still at Krakatau Medika Hospital in Cilegon, Banten province.

In response, the Foreign Ministry has asked the remaining boat people to undergo a verification process by international organizations and governments, to help them and prevent more of them dying.

The boat people were intercepted by the Indonesian Navy in Octo-ber on their way to Australia, and have since been anchored off Merak Port in Banten, refusing to step ashore.

Faizasyah said all 250 boat people should undergo verification to allow the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UNHCR to better deal with them.

"There's a bit of a standoff now, after only eight people agreed to be verified," Faizasyah said.

"We believe one or two of them are provoking a call to reject the verification. You see, we've done more than enough, as we consider them illegal intruders into our territory, and we can just send them back, but we're still looking for ways to handle them."

The spokesman for the boat people, Sanjeev "Alex" Kuhendrarajah, said the man who died had been vomiting blood for two days, but authorities had ignored his pleas to be taken to hospital until after he suffered a seizure Wednesday night.

"He was completely neglected by the IOM and the Indonesian Navy," Alex told Australian Associated Press.

He added the group was shocked and saddened by the death and would do everything in their power to bring a lawsuit against the IOM and Navy.

Faizasyah said it was the Sri Lankans who refused to get on board the call for processing.

"We can't expect our Navy handle them, they just don't have the capacity," he said.

"They should be verified and taken care by the IOM or UNHCR."

The boat people insist they will not come ashore out of fear of being sent to an Indonesian detention center and forced to wait for years to be resettled.

Migrant advocates have called on the Australian government to intervene and accept the boat people.

The Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul, currently in Indo-nesia, said it was unacceptable that the boat people were being forced to "haggle" over access to medical care.

"It's an absolutely tragic death, but it was also entirely avoidable," Rintoul told AAP.

Australian intelligence helped Indonesian authorities intercept the boat, he went on, so the Australian government was responsible for the group.