KONTAN.CO.ID - JAKARTA. The central government is seeking help from local administrations – cities, regencies and provinces – to solve the deficit suffered by the Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) that reached Rp 9 trillion (US$666 million) so far this year.

Help from local administrations is one of several ways of easing the deficit decided at a meeting of ministers under the Office of the Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani expressed hope that regional administrations could put aside funds from their respective budgets to help ease the BPJS Kesehatan’s deficit.

“The commitments are expected to be stated in the 2018 regional budgets,” Sri Mulyani said, after attending the meeting, as reported by tribunnews.com on Tuesday.

BPJS Kesehatan president director Fahmi Idris said the second action to address the deficit was to cooperate with the Workers Social Security Agency (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan).

He said BPJS Ketenagakerjaan was expected to take part in financing the treatment to patients, whose diseases were caused by or related to their jobs.

Fahmi said he had communicated with representatives of the agency. “It is not easy to decide which diseases are caused by certain jobs,” he said, adding that the other efforts included the use of funds from tobacco’s excise and seeking capital injection from the state budget.

Since its establishment in 2014, BPJS Kesehatan has suffered from serious deficits: Rp 3.3 trillion in 2014, Rp 6 trillion in 2015 and 9.7 trillion in 2016. (bbn)

Editor: Dessy Rosalina