Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Minister/State Secretary Hatta Rajasa has stated that medical costs of former President Soeharto were fully born by the state, in line with the law No. 7/1978 on the Administration Financial Rights of President, Vice President, former president and former vice president.
"In one of the articles, namely article 7c, it is stated that medical expenses of former president and his or her relatives are born by the state," Miniter Hatta said at the State Secretariat office here on Monday.
Based on the law, the government would bear all expenses occurring during the medical treatment of ailing Soeharto, he said.
"The amount is unlimited," he said.
However, Soeharto and his family have never requested for reimbursement of their medical costs since he stepped down in 1998, the minister said.
"Pak Harto (Soeharto) and his family have never asked for reimbursement, although actually the state secretariat would have paid their medical costs if there was notification," Hatta said.
The state secretariat, therefore, decided to be proactive and ask Soeharto's family to submit claims for reimbursement of previous medical expenses, the minister said.
He cited as an example that the government had once reimbursed the family of the late Umar Wirahadikusumah, former vice president, who had been treated in overseas hospital.
The government has also paid for medical expenses of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, including when he went abroad for medical treatment.
However, the government did spend any money when former first lady Ainun Habibie was medically treaded in a foreign country because former president BJ Habibie's wife has medical insurance.
Soeharto, 86, has been hospitalized over the past 11 days at Pertamina Hospital for multiple-organ failure and he is currently in critical condition.
Among those visiting him at the hospital were former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohammad.
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