Jakarta – Inaccurate blood pressure gauges and stethoscopes, broken wheelchairs and a short supply of sterile gloves – this is what doctors and nurses work with at the city-owned Tarakan Hospital in Central Jakarta.

A representative of the employees association and the hospital director met Friday at a hearing held by City Council commission E on people's welfare, to discuss a dispute revolving around financial issues and the materials available at the hospital.

"Most of our equipment is not up standard. We had to ask the management to replace worn-out hospital equipment five times before they granted our wish in April," said Lulu Suswati, the paramedic delegation coordinator.

"There was an accident when a patient fell from a worn-out gurney. We just want to raise the quality of service of the hospital," she said.

Lulu said the management only provided 218 gloves a year, even though the hospital needed far more. "We once received 10 gloves that were non-sterile," she said.

The employees were also disputing financial matters and said they regarded the unclear distribution of money from the employees' health insurance as an indication of corruption in the hospital's management.

"Moreover, we demand an explanation for why the hospital still buys nutrition supplies for the patients from a third party at a cost of Rp 1.5 billion a year and outsourced the laundry service even though we have machines," Lulu added.

The hospital pays Rp 56 million per year for its outsourced cleaning service, while the previous cleaning service provided by the hospital employees' cooperative cost the management only Rp 23 million per year, she said.

The employees went on strike twice, on July 4 and July 11, but the industrial action did not affect the hospital's service to its patients.

Hospital director Hasannudin Abil Hasan said that he was ready to be replaced if he no longer had the trust of his employees.

"But I want to straighten things out, especially those that aren't true," he said. "We are in the process of purchasing surgery and nursery equipment. We have bought two new gurneys, three wheelchairs and an obstetrician's table, which we are using now," he told The Jakarta Post.

Hasannudin said the outsourced services were not expensive. "I took out the unnecessary cleaning of wallpaper to cut costs. The cleaning service used to cost Rp 26 million a month before I came. Now it is Rp 23 million," said the director of the last year and a half.

Hasannudin said the washing machines could not currently be used because the equipment had been packed up to be moved to a new facility. Tarakan hospital recently began construction on a new building, which will take three years to complete.

"Due to the development of our new building, we had to hire third parties to provide food and clean," he said. "This month we are going to do it ourselves because I also oppose outsourcing."

The commission's deputy chairman, Ahmad Hasan Ishak, said the councilors would bring the corruption and mismanagement allegations to the attention of the City Audit Agency.