Jakarta tackles ID card issue to provide healthcare for poor

Indah Setiawati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 01/08/2010 6:07 PM

The Jakarta administration will cooperate with the Ministry of Health to provide free health services for people on low incomes living in the city who do not have local identification cards.

"We are trying to make it so that non-listed residents get the services," Governor Fauzi Bowo said.

He said the action was taken because the city's free health service for the poor – Gakin (Keluarga Miskin) – could only be accessed by residents who had identification cards because it used the city budget.

He said the city and the ministry had formed a team that would gather data on people living in Jakarta on low incomes who do not hold local ID cards.

"The fund [for the health service] will come from the Jamkesmas fund," Fauzi said, referring to the free healthcare access for the poor provided by the central government.

He was optimistic that the program would take effect this year.