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Doctors told to improve quality of care
With so many people opting to go overseas or to international hospitals to get medical treatment, the People’s Consultative Assembly speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid urged health officials to look into the quality of local hospitals
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With so many people opting to go overseas or to international hospitals to get medical treatment, the People’s Consultative Assembly speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid urged health officials to look into the quality of local hospitals.
“Medical officials should open their eyes to the reality (that many people leave the country for medical treatment) and ask themselves why this is happening,” Nur Wahid said last weekend.
He spoke after the inauguration of the new Jakarta regional leadership of the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) for 2008-2012.
He suspected the problem lay in the low quality of service provided by doctors and other medical personnel.
“Hospitals abroad give satisfactory treatment and nurses there act professionally. Patients feel they are in safe hands.”
The new chair of IDI Jakarta, Ahmad Budi Arto, said the organization under his leadership would push to implement existing legislation which limits each doctor to practice at no more than three locations to ensure they pay sufficient attention to each patient. He said he would also press for the verification of medical licenses.
He said people who sought medical care outside the country were from a certain class of Indonesians and they represent a minority of patients. He added the situation might be due to the quality of overall hospital care rather than the expertise of the doctors per se.
“We have many respected doctors with international reputations. If we’re talking about skill, we’re not in short supply. But medical treatment involves more than just doctors,” he said.
Patient experiences tell another story. One father named Irwan no longer trusts doctors and hospitals after he had trouble getting his daughter treatment for her cleft palate a year ago.
“Grace had this condition since birth. I checked her into the hospital on our pediatrician’s recommendation when she was eight months old. It was all downhill after that,” the Jakarta resident said.
He said a team of doctors told him they needed to wait until his daughter turned one-and-a-half or two years old to begin the series of three surgeries she needed, and with no guarantee of success. They ran her through a gamut of tests: brain scan, ear and nose exams, nutrition check and, finally, an assessment by a psychologist.
“They said she might suffer from this or that. We just followed whatever they advised. The process was long-drawn-out and expensive and the doctors did not even guarantee anything. They said after the surgery my daughter would still have to undergo speech therapy on top of everything else,” he said.
After six months he had had enough and following one doctor visit he stormed out of the hospital in disappointment.
His wife Jenhindri took Grace to a hospital in Malaysia. She explained Grace’s condition to the receptionist and was immediately referred to the plastic surgery department.
Later the same day, surgeons operated for an hour and a half. Grace was discharged three days later with a total bill of around RM 5,000 (Rp 13.5 million, or US$1,400).
“The cost was lower than what the Jakarta hospital estimated — about Rp 20 million for one surgery — and they couldn’t be certain whether more surgeries would be necessary, not to mention the cost of therapy,” Irwan said.
Grace’s palate has healed nicely. The two-year-old speaks fluently with no sign of speech impairment. She didn’t need therapy.
Irwan said the Malaysian doctor had said Grace should have been brought in earlier because the surgery is easier for younger children who are not as mobile.
“I just don’t trust the hospitals in Indonesia. I think everything they do is about money. Doctors here have lost their sense of duty toward their patients,” he said.
At the inauguration, IDI national chair Fachmi Idris urged patients to report any maltreatment or any evidence doctors are working with pharmaceutical companies on a commission basis.
“If anyone has proof (of such ties), please notify us. We will look into the mat-ters.” (mri)
