The New National Health Plan: Too Much, Too Soon?

ALMOST every day, a long line forms at the Social Security Administration Agency (BPJS) for Healthcare's special pharmacy window on the first floor of Jakarta's Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital. Rooms for Class 3 in-patient care, which constitutes the bulk of BPJS Healthcare patients, are always full. Some people decide to try other hospitals, even though it means they might have to pay at least half of the medical bills. "Rather than wait a week without knowing if you will get a room, it's better I go to another hospital," said Iskandar, a Lampung resident who finally took his wife to the Jakarta Islamic Hospital for an urgent kidney stone operation two weeks ago.

Ever since the Jakarta Health Card (KJS) and National Health Insurance (JKN) programs came into effect, the number of patients at hospitals has continued to swell, according to Prasetyo Widhi Buwono, vice secretary-general of the the Indonesian Doctors Association's (IDI) executive committee. To illustrate, each day Jakarta's Pasar Rebo General Hospital receives up to 600 patients but has only four or five general practitioners to treat them. "It's normal for a single doctor to treat 100 patients (a day)," Prasetyo said. Ideally, one doctor should handle no more than 50 patients a day, spending about 10 minutes with each.