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Heathcare agency awaiting govt funds to cover Rp 3.5t debt
The Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) is waiting for government funds to pay debts of Rp 3.5 trillion (US$234.65 million) that had been used to purchase medicines, it said in Jakarta on Thursday.
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The registration desk at the Healthcare and Social Security Agency's (BPJS Kesehatan) Jakarta office appears in this undated handout photograph. (Courtesy of/www.panduanbpjs.com)
The Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) is waiting for government funds to pay debts of Rp 3.5 trillion (US$234.65 million) that had been used to purchase medicines, it said in Jakarta on Thursday.
BPJS Kesehatan spokesman M. Iqbal Anas Ma'ruf said agency representatives had met with the Pharmacological Companies Association (GP Farmasi) to explain the situation. “We were open and transparent. They understood our situation,” Iqbal said as quoted by kotan.co.id.
GP Farmasi had recently notified BPJS Kesehatan that it had Rp 3.5 trillion in maturing debt.
Iqbal added that the agency wanted to pay the debt as soon as possible because otherwise, it would have to pay an additional 1 percent of any arrears it had accrued, which it could not afford.
Iqbal could not provide details on the agency's arrears. He said BPJS Kesehatan was facing difficulties in gathering data on its overdue debt, as some of the data was not always provided for the batch payments the agency made to hospitals.
“We try to look at it objectively. We pay on a first come, first served basis,” he said, adding that the agency had requested the government’s help in monitoring its payment obligations to hospitals. (bbn)
