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FX Soedanto: Staying true to his calling
FX SOEDANTO: (JP/Nethy Dharma Somba) In a time when medical expenses are beyond the reach of many people, there is still a doctor who charges his patient a mere Rp 1,000 (10 US cents) for a consultation
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FX SOEDANTO: (JP/Nethy Dharma Somba)
In a time when medical expenses are beyond the reach of many people, there is still a doctor who charges his patient a mere Rp 1,000 (10 US cents) for a consultation. If need be, he does not even mind getting nothing but a thank you.
The doctor is 67-year-old Fransiskus Xaverius Soedanto, who has served in Papua for 33 years.
"Previously, I charged Rp 500 per patient. The amount has increased to Rp 1,000 but if someone pays me Rp 500 or with just a thank you, I will still accept it," he said.
Consultation fees for general practitioners in the area are usually around Rp 25,000 while a specialist might charge Rp 50,000.
The first impression of this doctor is that he is modest. But almost all residents in Papua's capital city Jayapura have heard of him.
"Oh, that one-thousand-rupiah doctor," is the answer from many Jayapura residents when you ask about Soedanto's clinic.
The name the residents use is his popular nickname, Dr. Seribu, or one-thousand-rupiah doctor.
The doctor runs his practice in a modest six-square-meter room in the corner of Rahmat pharmacy in Abepura city.
The room is equipped with only a bed where he examines his patients, a doctor's table, four chairs and an old wooden cabinet.
A fan leans against the wall in a corner to cool the room, especially if the patient is accompanied by more than one person.
It has been years since Soedanto first started running his practice out of that room. He has never moved to another place.
His modest personality is also reflected in his private car, an old Japanese sedan, that he bought for Rp 50 million about 10 years ago.
"I had Rp 50 million because I saved my money in dollars," Soedanto said.
"When the dollar's exchange rates reached Rp 10,000, I sold my dollars and got Rp 300 million. I purchased my car using that money."
This was the time of the 1997 monetary crisis when the rupiah sharply weakened, with its value against the dollar skyrocketing from about Rp 2,500 to Rp 10,000.
Soedanto was born in Kebumen, Central Java, the youngest of six siblings. His father, Umar, was a contractor in the Dutch colonial administration and his mother, Mursila, was a nurse.
Soedanto first studied at the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Gadjah Mada University School but abandoned it after a year to follow his mother's advice; he enrolled in the School of Medicine instead.
"I took another test and was admitted at the School of Medicine. Maybe my mother wanted one of her children to become a doctor to follow in her footsteps as a nurse," Soedanto said.
After his graduation in 1975, he was required by government regulation to do compulsory service in a rural area.
The Health Ministry asked him to choose which province he wanted to be assigned to. Young Soedanto picked Irian Jaya, which is now called Papua, the most underdeveloped region in the country.
"I chose Irian Jaya just because I liked it. Besides, at that time, if we chose another province like Sulawesi, Java or Sumatra, we had to pay a sort of bribe to the ministry officials. I didn't have the money so I chose Papua, which did not require me to pay a bribe."
In Papua, Soedanto was first assigned to Asmat, before being transferred to Jayapura where he served in the psychiatric hospital until he retired five years ago.
During his career in the Health Ministry, Soedanto received an award for using mostly generic medicines.
Soedanto usually prescribes generic medicines and rarely tells his patients to buy branded drugs.
"They only pay Rp 1,000 for doctor's fee -- how can we give them a prescription for expensive medicine?" he said. "They come here because they have limited money so we give them medicine with a price that is suitable for them."
In one day, the number of patients he sees can be as high as 200 people. He opens his practice from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily and takes home about Rp 150,000 after paying his nurse and a guard.
Even before 8 a.m., a crowd of patients queues in the porch of Rahmat pharmacy: Soedanto's clinic operates on a first-come-first-served basis.
"I have been seeing Dr. Soedanto for a long time. He treats my child well. Besides, the price of medicine that we need to buy is not that expensive. The most expensive medicine is Rp 30,000," said Juliana, who brings her five-year-old daughter Lis to see the doctor.
Another patient, college student Mesak Tabuni, said the doctor was famous among Papuans.
"This doctor has been famous for ages. He charges us a very low fee. That's why I always seek medical treatment here," he said.
Having devoted his life to patients in Papua for decades, Soedanto fully understands what kind of state of health Papua's local communities are in -- not to mention their alarmingly low medical awareness, mainly due to geographical position, low education level and poor environment.
He said acute respiratory infection is a specific illness often found among Papuans, mostly caused by an unclean environment and poor knowledge about healthy living.
"It requires a long time to change people's habits when it comes to their unhealthy living patterns," he said.
Even after all these years, Soedanto has no intention of leaving Papua to return to his hometown.
"Anywhere is just the same. We can offer our services not only in our hometown but also in other places where we are needed the most," he said.
In Jayapura, Soedanto met Elisabeth and married her in 1997. They have five children.
When asked why he has not increased his fee to Rp 5,000, he simply said that not everyone had Rp 5,000.
"Many people have problems in getting that much money. I want to help. I don't want to see anyone unable to see a doctor about their illness simply because he or she doesn't have Rp 5,000," he said.
"I only want to help those unlucky people. I have no other intention."
With such a little fee, it leaves the large question of how he is able to support his family.
He earns an additional but meager income from teaching, including at Cendrawasih University's School of Community Health, as well as his Rp 2 million pension.
But no one, he said, not even his wife, complained about his decision to set such a low fee.
"It is enough," he said lightly. "We are used to these conditions. It is enough for us."
When asked how long he will run his practice, it did not take him long to answer.
"Until I am not capable of doing it anymore."
