Jakarta hospitals hit by medicine shortage over unpaid debts

The city has already set up a bailout fund to help hospitals.

Many regional hospitals in Jakarta can no longer buy medicine as the Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) is often late for bill payments, Jakarta Post reported.

According to city secretary Saefullah, Jakarta has issued about US$101m (RP1.5t) worth of payments each year for Class III patients.

“But when it is the turn of the hospitals to collect the debt from the BPJS, there are problems," he said.

To address the situation, Jakarta organised a bailout fund to help the hospitals that have yet to receive payments from the BPJS. Said funds came from a loan in city-owned lender Bank DKI, giving Jakarta the burden of the cost of the interest rates over the unpaid debts.

Based on a BPJS financial report, the agency was hit by losses worth US$656.9m (RP9.75t), despite recording an income of US$500.2m (RP74.25t). According to the agency’s spokesman Iqbal Anas Maruf, the overdue debts owed to the hospitals were due to the BPJS being underfunded.