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View all search resultsPatient death, doctors' mockery expose healthcare cracks
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A young dengue patient undergoes treatment at Loekmono Hadi Regional General Hospital (RSUD) in Kudus, Central Java on Feb. 5, 2024. Health authorities in the regency records a 25 percent increase of dengue fever patients in January to 55 cases compared to the previous month. (Antara/Yusuf Nugroho)
T
he death of a National Health Insurance (JKN) patient after waiting hours for a hospital bed, coupled with insensitive social media remarks by healthcare workers responding to his earlier complaint, has intensified scrutiny of Indonesia's strained healthcare system and professional ethics.
A number of doctors, dentists and nurses have come under fire after posting derisive comments on a Thread post on July 22 in which the patient shared his experience waiting eight hours for an inpatient bed.
Some mocked him for “being poor” because he relied on the state-funded insurance scheme, while others said he lacked “ brain cells”. The patient died several days later due to delays in receiving hospital treatment, his relatives said.
The case has drawn widespread sympathy for the patient while triggering outrage over what many viewed as discriminatory remarks toward someone seeking treatment through the JKN program.
Public health expert Dicky Budiman said JKN participants and self-paying patients must receive equal treatment under legal and ethical standards, with medical care determined by the urgency of a patient’s condition rather than the method of payment.
“If discrimination in healthcare services based on JKN membership is occurring in this case, it constitutes violation of the law,” he said earlier this week, adding that limited bed capacity could not justify denying patients access to treatment.
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