Excellent hospital service

Excellent hospital service

I am a fairly regular reader of your paper and have noted that
your correspondence column usually consists of a series of
complaints.

As an elderly (67 years), recent expatriate who especially
loves the people of this wonderful country, I would like to
recount my recent experience to redress the balance.

I teach English at the Stella Gratia, a small Indonesian
school in Jelambar, West Jakarta, and live nearby with an
ordinary Indonesian family.

On Aug. 23, I was taken ill with very severe stomach cramps
and discovered a swelling in my groin. I asked the family to call
a doctor but they immediately took me, by taxi, to the Graha
Medika Hospital in Kebon Jeruk.

A doctor was with me within one minute and he confirmed my
suspicion of a hernia. Various tests were taken and I was given
the option of a support or an operation, the latter being
strongly advised.

I followed the advice, was admitted to a small ward with only
two other patients and within three hours the surgeon came from
his home especially to see me. Arrangements were made for the
operation to be carried out on Aug. 25 in the morning.

I was made comfortable with pain killers and received the most
careful attention from all the staff in the cleanest and most
attractive hospital I have ever been in. There were three
excellent meals and two snacks each day with courteous and
efficient service.

For me the operation was a novelty. Instead of the usual
anesthetic, which leaves one sick and dizzy afterward, I was
given a spinal injection which paralyzes the lower part of the
body and thus was able to chat to the surgeon and nurses
throughout the operation.

By 11 a.m. on Aug. 26, I was able to return home. The cost was
less than 600 pounds (about Rp 2,880,000). In England it would
have been five times as much for a much lower standard of care.

The Graha Medika typifies the reason I love Indonesia. Happy,
friendly, smiling people who give their all to help. Please stay
that way.

Do not copy the West too much. We have lost our sense of
family values, make sure you keep yours.

Thank you Graha Medika. Thank you Indonesia. I hope I can stay
here forever.

BILL STARR

Jakarta