Hospitals treated me like a criminal: Activist<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government may claim the criticism of its efforts to tackle
\nSevere Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is excessive, but an
\nactivist has personally discovered that all is far from well in
\nour hospitals.<\/p>\n
Nurul Qoiriah, a program officer for a Hong Kong-based
\nIndonesian migrant workers organization, shared her experiences
\nof being a suspected SARS sufferer with the press recently.<\/p>\n
\"They treated me like I was a criminal,\" said Nurul, referring
\nto the doctors and other healthcare workers whom she came into
\ncontact with.<\/p>\n
Last week, she suddenly felt ill six days after arriving home
\nfrom Hong Kong. She immediately went to the Persahabatan Hospital
\nin East Jakarta, which has been designated by the government as
\nthe second SARS treatment hospital in Jakarta after the Sulianti
\nSaroso Infectious Diseases Hospital (RSPI) in North Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Upon learning that she had just come back from Hong Kong,
\nwhere SARS had claimed several lives at that time, the
\nPersahabatan Hospital nurses and the doctor who were attending
\nher went into a panic, Nurul recalled.<\/p>\n
Later, the doctor told her to take a chest X-ray to ascertain
\nwhether she had SARS or not. She had to pay about Rp 150,000
\n(about US$16) for the treatment she received.<\/p>\n
\"At the beginning, they did not try to find out what was
\nreally wrong with me. They just treated me as if I had SARS,\" she
\nsaid, while showing her bill from the Persahabatan Hospital to
\nreporters.<\/p>\n
When her chest X-ray showed no sign of pneumonia, the doctor
\nallowed her to go home after checking her throat and giving her
\nsome medicine.<\/p>\n
The next day, she developed a high fever. A friend took her to
\nthe St. Carolus Hospital in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Once again, the nurses appeared to panic upon learning that
\nshe had just arrived back from Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
\"I was almost unconscious due to the fever. But vaguely I
\ncould hear them screaming after they checked my temperature:
\n'Thirty nine degrees!',\" she recounted.<\/p>\n
One of the SARS symptoms is a temperature of over 38 degrees
\nCelsius.<\/p>\n
The hospital suggested that she go to the RSPI. But instead,
\nNurul went to the nearby Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM).<\/p>\n
\"At that time I knew I didn't have SARS as I had a sore
\nthroat, not the SARS symptoms. Besides, I already had a checkup
\nwith a specialist in Hong Kong before I returned to Indonesia,
\nand he said I was OK,\" Nurul said.<\/p>\n
In the RSCM, her friend had to argue with a doctor for about
\nan hour to convince him that Nurul had a sore throat, not SARS
\nsymptoms.<\/p>\n
Finally, the doctor examined her and found she was suffering
\nfrom a throat infection. He then gave her some antibiotics.<\/p>\n
\"I consider myself educated, someone who can speak for
\nherself. Yet, these nurses and doctors treated me like a
\ncriminal. You can just imagine what would happen to a migrant
\nworker in such a situation,\" she said.<\/p>\n
A public relations officer at the Persahabatan Hospital, who
\nrequested anonymity, said that based on hospital policy, patients
\nwho needed a SARS test, except for the indigent, had to pay for
\nit.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the St Carolus Hospital, Endang
\nSuryatna, said that according to the standard operating
\nprocedures issued by the Jakarta Health Agency, patients with
\nSARS symptoms who had just arrived from affected areas had to be
\ntransferred to a designated hospital.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/hospitals-treated-me-like-a-criminal-activist-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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