Health Minister Urges Private Hospitals to Improve Quality

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Health Minister Nila F Moeloek urged private hospitals to improve the quality and competence of their human resources to compete with other countries in the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) provisions.

"It is a good moment, private hospitals are quite large, so we remind them to improve the quality and competence of their human resources," Nila F Moeloek said after opening a seminar here Wednesday.

Private hospitals must be willing to participate in the National Health Insurance (JKN) program, the minister remarked.

"We have evaluated the program, and the medical expenses and others are not different. We understand that the operational costs of a private hospital are much greater than that of a state hospital," she stated.

Therefore, the Ministry of Health, The Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan), and private hospitals, have agreed that there are differences in rates compared to government hospitals.

"The difference is around five percent. We will continue to evaluate it," the minister remarked.

There were some constraints on the implementation of JKN program in private hospitals ranging from differences in the services and the low rates of the INA-CBG system, Chairman of the Indonesian Association of Private Hospitals (ARSSI) Susi Setiawati said, meanwhile.

The INA-CBG (Indonesia Case-Based Group) system, issued by the health ministry, is a rate mechanism under which the payment system of the current Social Security Management Agency (BPJS) program is based.

"Now, there are 57 percent of private hospitals that participate in JKN program," she said.

The number of hospitals in the country reached 2,600, of which 1,600 are privately run.

In addition to asking the difference in rates between private and public hospitals, the ARSSI wanted to directly procure the drug.

Private hospitals are having trouble accessing the e-catalog. As a result, they prescribe non-generic medicines.

"Based on the regulations, a private hospital should prescribe low-cost generic drugs to patients," Susi stated.

Susi hoped that the government would look into the demands of private hospitals.(WDY)