Thousands of people living in the city administration'€™s 27 shelters received their national health insurance (JKN) cards on Thursday.

During the ceremonial event at the Bina Insan Bangun Daya social shelter in Cipayung, East Jakarta, Health Agency representative John Marbun said he hoped the new cardholders would benefit from the new system.

'€œWe hope shelter residents will now have better access to medication. Before they had these cards, they had to endure a laborious process,'€ he said.

The agency handed out 5,800 JKN cards on Thursday. Seventy-two more will be distributed once the administration process for those cardholders is complete.

Social Affairs Agency head Masrokhan said he hoped the Health Agency would champion support for the treatment of certain health issues, which, he said, were not covered by the new JKN system.

Previously, the managements of a number of shelters complained about the '€œstrict'€ JKN procedures, which obliged them to bring sick members of the shelters to community health center (Puskesmas) to get a reference letter before receiving any medical treatment.

Supeno, the head of the administration'€™s Social, Welfare and Women'€™s Empowerment Agency '€” who is responsible for related-agency coordination '€” said four psychiatric shelters, which looked after hundreds of patients, had complained about how unrealistic the process was.

'€œTaking dozens of mentally ill patients to a Puskesmas first and later to a hospital is a lot of work,'€ he said.

Masrokhan said previously that he had to issue an official letter from the Social Affairs Agency every
time patients needed to go to hospital. After coordinating with the Health Agency, he said, next week the four shelters would be supported by clinics that would have access to medicine.

'€œGradually, all shelters will have their own clinic too,'€ he said.

Sri Utami, the head of Tunas Bangsa orphanage in Cipayung, used the opportunity to meet officials from the Health Agency to convey the obstacles faced at her shelter.

'€œNot all medicine is covered by the BPJS. Some of our children have allergies but the medicine is not covered,'€ she said, referring to the Social Security Management Agency by its acronym. The BPJS manages the JKN program.

Supeno said he would coordinate with the Health Agency to ensure the shelter received a weekly or monthly visit from a pediatrician in addition to the current regular visit from Puskesmas health workers.

Head of the East Jakarta health subagency Yudhita Endah P. said East Jakarta needed internists and pediatricians.

'€œThe conditions at Puskesmas in East Jakarta lag far behind the rest of the capital city. The buildings are mostly old. The buildings, many of which are in a state of disrepair, could be dangerous for our patients,'€ she told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the event.

Yudhita said this year, her subagency had finally secured a budget to renovate five Puskesmas, including those in Cipayung, Matraman and Pulogadung.

'€œEach Puskesmas will get Rp 22.5 billion [US$1.94 million] for renovation. We want to see an increase in capacity and service. Currently, each Puskesmas serves around 200 patients per day,'€ she said.

She said although the 10 Puskesmas in the district levels offer in-house treatment for childbirth, only three had in-house treatment for dengue fever and typhoid fever. The three Puskesmas, she said, were among 18 in the capital city that had been upgraded to hospital standard.

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