By: Budi Santoso*
In his speech at Hambalang Bogor, Prabowo said that the current economic situation in Indonesia was very worrying, making BPJS a very large fund.
In his speech the number 2 presidential candidate said that he said that because the Indonesian economy was weakening, even dialysis devices were used together with more than one person.
Prabowo said that he received a report on health services at the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in RSCM, that kidney washers such as ducts from plastic, rubber should be used for one person.
But the thing that made me frown was the statement from the spokesperson of the National Winning Body (BPN) Andre, where he as a team member from Prabowo did not know the source of information received by Prabowo.
Not only that, Prabowo also claimed that the financial problems at BPJS Kesehatan also had an impact on the salaries of medical personnel who were in arrears for several months. He also mentioned that the BPJS Health budget deficit problem forced a number of hospitals to reduce the quality of services to patients.
One of them is using a kidney wash hose repeatedly by several patients, low quality medical devices and not original alias fake. In addition, the disbursement of BPJS Health funds to the hospital is in arrears for six months, while the doctor’s salary is in arrears for up to 3 months.
Regarding these remarks, the Medical and Nursing Director of RSCM Sumariyono gave a rebuttal, he emphasized that RSCM applied the use of one hose only for one time hemodialysis or single use since 2012.
Hemodialysis equipment consists of three main components, namely, hemodialysis machine, hemodialysis hose (blood tubing), and artificial kidney or dialiser.
The hemodialysis machine can be used repeatedly and for patients in large numbers, this is because there is no direct contact with blood. Whereas, dialiser is used once or repeatedly (reuse) but only for the same patient after the sterilization and due diligence process.
But the RSCM itself applies single use for hemodialysis and dialiser hoses. Sumariyono said.
The hemodialysis hose is used to drain blood from the patient’s body to the dialiser and return blood that has passed the dialysis process to return to the patient’s body through the blood vessels. Hospital RSCM classrooms certainly will not pawn the quality to provide services to patients.
Dialiser is an artificial kidney that functions to cleanse the blood of toxins from the rest of the body’s metabolism. This equipment can be done repeatedly in the same patient, but after sterilization and due diligence.
The same thing was also brushed aside by the Managing Director of RSCM Lies Dina Liastuti, he denied that the budget problems in BPJS Health had an impact on the provision of salaries for medical personnel. It has regulated the efficiency of the budget through cost control quality control (KMKB). As a result, the hospital can set aside funds for salary or employee remuneration.
Prabowo’s statement about employee salary arrears at RSCM is certainly baseless, because the government Hospital has a draft budget, the allocation per month has been set. RSCM never fails to pay to employees.
It’s true if the disbursement of funds from BPJS Health has been delayed by up to 2 months. However, this does not affect the services provided to patients. This is because RSCM implements a cross-subsidy system thanks to the management of non-BPJS Health service units that provide profits. For example, income from the space pavilion kencana.
BPJS Health is one part that experiences congestion in terms of disbursing funds. But every management can look for other alternatives to maintain the financial stability of the Hospital, not only stick to the BPJS Health, such as Jasindo and Jamkesda.
In this case Prabowo’s speech could backfire on his electability in the 2019 presidential election, many people were offended by some of his speeches, starting from his statement about the appearance of Boyolali to the use of kidney washing hoses.
A strange thing also happened, when the Spokesperson for the Prabowo National Winning Body did not know the source of information for the speech delivered by the presidential candidate he stayed.
Prabowo’s speech which stated that the hemodialysis hose was used repeatedly, certainly gave the impression that Prabowo did not go directly to the field and talk directly with the RSCM. A statement like this certainly can make it counterproductive for itself electorally.
It would be wiser if Prabowo provided a solution or campaigned for his vision and mission rather than just giving criticism to the government which ultimately only led to a pessimistic attitude towards the Indonesian nation.
Too often Prabowo delivers information that is disputed by various elements of society, the content of the speech about the poor service of hemodialysis can certainly cause public concern. The impact of public trust in the Hospital fell because of the unrest built by his speech.
If it is proven that what was conveyed by Prabowo in his speech is not true, then this certainly becomes a weak point in his steps ahead of the candidate debate for the 2019 presidential election.
Ahead of the democratic party, the public must be active in criticizing various assumptions made by political figures, in this case the community is right to trust only one source of news, but also to seek news from the mainstream media.
The wise move that should be taken by political leaders in Indonesia is to boost work morale and tolerance, not just by blaming or criticizing the government just because of the news that is still said. After all, people need a sense of comfort in carrying out activities and receiving services from the government.
*) Author is student of University Kristen Jakarta