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number of the city’s private hospitals are now known by a new name following a government ruling barring hospitals from using the often misleading attributes: international, global or anything else referring to worldwide networks or high quality of health care.

The Bintaro International Hospital (RSIB) has adopted its new name, Bintaro Premier Hospital.

“We launched our new name on Aug. 12,” Netty, a member of the hospital’s marketing staff told The Jakarta Post recently.

She said the name change was in response to the ban issued by the Health Ministry.            

Meanwhile, the hospital formerly known as Omni International Hospital in Serpong, Tangerang, Banten, dropped its middle name, now going by simply Omni Hospital.

Grace Hilza Yarmen Nallen, public relations manager of the Omni Hospital said that Omni, which was opened in August 2007 had dropped the word “international” from its name as of Aug. 10.

The Health Ministry told hospitals using international or global attributes in their names to lose those terms by Aug. 14.

It argues that the use of such international attributions carries certain standards imposed by the ministry as well as the Joint Commission International, a global organization providing a basis for certification and accreditation for hospitals around the world.

The ministry says there are 12 hospitals using “international” as an attribute, while more than 10 hospitals across the country use the term “global” in their names.

“The existence of such international attributions did not guarantee the quality of a hospital’s service to the public,” said Dr. Supriyantoro, the director-general of the medical services at the Health Ministry.

The use of those attributes has been widely criticized by the public amid reported cases of malpractice involving doctors from several so-called international hospitals.

In one recent case, housewife Prita Mulyasari was incarcerated and fined Rp 204 million (US$22,500) by a civil court for allegedly defaming an international hospital following complaints made by her via email over receiving poor medical services.

The case sparked widespread protest and led to an unprecedented campaign over social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to raise money to help Prita pay off the fine.

Public pressure eventually saw the court acquit the case, while the hospital has not yet retracted its lawsuit against Prita.

Netty from the Bintaro Premier Hospital, however, said that the stripping of the international attribute doesn’t necessarily mean a lower quality service.

“The change of the name has been carried out because we have to meet the prevailing regulations,” she said.

Meanwhile, Dadang M. Epid, head of South Tangerang Health Agency called on the hospitals that had stripped their international names to inform the public of the change.

“With the announcement, hopefully, there will be no more misunderstanding among the public.

“People will no longer regard those hospitals as hospitals operating under international standards,” he said.