Gakin not reaching residents: Surveys

Most of Jakarta’s low-income people have not benefitted from the city administration’s free Gakin healthcare scheme, according to two surveys.

Around 70 percent of the city’s low-income families have not obtained Gakin cards according to surveys conducted by the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) and Kompas daily’s research and development division.

The Kompas survey was held in July and spanned five Jakarta municipalities, involving 500 respondents from low-income families.

According to Fakta’s survey, which was conducted during the same period, 34.9 percent of 769 low income respondents did not have Gakin cards.

“We consider it urgent to form a monitoring body to push andassure that [the free] health services are provided,” Fakta chairman Azas Tigor Nainggolan said on Wednesday.

Tigor said almost half of the people with Gakin cards complained of difficulties in accessing healthcare.

“The [difficulties] included rejection, unfriendly officers, lack of information, discriminative treatment and being asked for money,” he said.

Many residents reported difficulties in obtaining Gakin cards, citing bureaucratic hurdles at public service centers, subdistrict and district offices and also at Health Agency offices, the survey said.

According to BPS data, there were a total of 180,660 low-income families in the city in 2008.

The city also runs SKTM, which is intended to cover low-income people who are not covered by Gakin.

Local administrations issue SKTM cards to residents deemed to be living in poverty. The cards, which last up to six months, enable bearers to receive up to 50 percent off healthcare costs.

Separately, city Health Agency chief Dien Emawati said she believed the city has been doing well in healthcare.

“The city, through its hospitals and public health centers, has served a total of 2.3 million in 2010. That’s a big number,” she said.

Dien blamed slow community and neighborhood units for delays in issuing Gakin and SKTM cards.

“I can assure you, the card issuance process at public health centers or subdistrict units takes only one day,” she told journalists.

Dien said that the city administration has complied with the 2009 Health Law that stipulates that 60 percent of beds at national hospitals must be allocated for low-income patients.

“However, 30 percent of the city population uses low-cost services when they go to the hospital. That’s why we are having a shortage of beds for poor people,” she said.

Dien said that a planned 300-bed hospital to be built next year in South Jakarta would provide low-cost healthcare to more people.

The city will launch a website that lists how many rooms are available in the city’s low-cost hospitals.

“The information will be available through the Internet or cellphone text messages,” she said.