Hospital with No-class Wards Policy: An Effort to Create the Right to Access to Quality Health Care for the Poor

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to explore the experience of the patients and hospital behaviour after the implementation of the no-class wards policy and its possible impact on the poor and non-poor patients provision and quality of care. This case study was conducted at Wates Hospital and purposeful sampling was used to yield participants. This study employed in-depth interviews with health care users district health care stakeholders, and focus group discussions with hospital healthcare professionals. The no-class wards policy had clearly demonstrated on improving the right to access to quality health care for the poor. The policy had been effectively reducing the experiences of patients on discriminatory treatment and improving quality of services. The policy also had an impact on increasing hospital utilization significantly among public insurance beneficiaries for both the poor and non-poor patients which supports the success of the implementation of the universal health coverage. Moreover, the policy had improved the assurance of quality of services. Future research needs to expand on our work to compare the implementation of no-class wards policy in other hospitals in different regions in Indonesia considering different local context such as local political issues, public expectations and other technical issues.