0 Free healthcare service to be extended to private hospitals

Jaminan Kesehatan Bali Mandara (JKBM), the free healthcare service funded by the provincial budget covering all registered residents of the resort island, will be improved this year through private hospital networking. Bali residents will be able to access free health services at several participating private hospitals throughout the island. As of now, the facility is only accessible through government-owned hospitals. 

“We are eager to improve the JKBM program by providing the best services to all Bali residents,” Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika said during his visit to the JKBM monitoring center in Denpasar on Tuesday. JKBM is one of Pastika’s pet projects and was named after his campaign slogan “Bali Mandara”, the last word is an acronym for advanced, safe, peaceful and prosperous. Expanding the network to include private hospitals is one of the province’s attempts to provide greater and easier access for the JKBM participants. 

The 12 hospitals in Bali currently providing access to the JKBM program have limited hospital beds and resources. Under the JKBM scheme, patients get free healthcare, including surgery, medicine and third-class rooms, in government hospitals. The provincial administration has informed 39 private hospitals across the island about the plan and invited them to participate as JKBM providers. 

“At least nine private hospitals have submitted their proposals and expressed their willingness to participate as providers,” JKBM top official I Gusti Ayu Putri Mahadewi said. So far, the administration has approved the proposals tendered by five private hospitals, namely Kertha Usadha, Paramasidhi, Dharma Bhakti Usadha, Puri Raharja and Bhakti Rahayu. The first three are hospitals located in Buleleng regency and the last two in Denpasar. “We are currently carrying out the verification process on the remaining four hospitals,” she said. 

The verification process involves a site visit by a provincial team, which inspects the hospitals’ available facilities, level of services, as well as the legal documentation and licenses. “The process is necessary to ensure that the selected hospitals would be able to provide quality healthcare to JKBM participants.” Mahadewi expected that by March all the approved private hospitals would be able to commence servicing JKBM participants. “Actually, the sooner the hospitals could provide services to the JKBM participants, the better. 

But we need to prepare a lot of things, which is why we set the starting point in March.” Puri Raharja Hospital director, Nyoman Sutedja, declared that the hospital was ready to implement the JKBM program. “We are keen to provide better healthcare access, including to poor people. We are ready to provide services for people with the JKBM,” he said. In 2010, about 67 percent of Bali’s resident used the JKBM to get medical services and treatments. The percentage had increased to 74 percent in 2011 and 80.1 percent in 2012. The provincial administration allocated Rp 235 billion (US$24.2 million) from its Rp 4 trillion 2012 annual budget to fund the JKBM program. The amount was significantly higher than the Rp 179 billion allocated in 2011.

source : bali daily