Lenny Tristia Tambun – Eleven Jakarta hospitals announced on Friday that they backed out of the Jakarta Health Card program, saying that growing numbers of patients have exceeded their capacity.

The city's Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama confirmed the news, but refused to name the hospitals. "Yes, they can't handle it anymore. What can we do?" Basuki said on Friday.

Governor Joko Widodo introduced the health program, known as KJS, in November last year as a way to provide free health care to all of Jakarta's 4.7 million poor people. But a few months into the health care program's implementation, reports of Jakarta hospitals refusing to treat patients have made headlines.

Joko instituted the KJS system in November of last year in an attempt to increase the capital's health service capacity. The card entitles holders to free medical treatment at community health centers and third-class wards in local hospitals.

Hospitals have seen a roughly 70 percent influx in patients since the program was launched, according to the Jakarta Health Department. Community health care posts (puskesmas) and local hospitals were unprepared for the surge in patients.

Basuki asked hospitals in the city to bear along and not abruptly terminate the agreement to treat KJS cardholders. "I ask for the hospitals to be patient for two more months. We will calculate how much it's going to cost, then talk support with data," he said.