Heryanto to be sent home on Monday

The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Doctors at Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung will immediately send home Heryanto, an elementary school student who suffered brain damage after attempting suicide two months ago.

"It has been decided that the doctors will send him home on Monday, on the grounds that his health has improved.

He has been able to walk, eat and talk for two weeks," said Suganda Tanuwidjaja, the chairman of a team of doctors treating the 12-year-old boy at the hospital in Bandung.

Heryanto, a student at Muara Sanding elementary school in Garut regency, West Java, has been in the hospital for two months, after he tried to end his life on Aug. 22 by hanging himself with a cable.

Heryanto was reportedly distraught because one of his teachers had required him to pay Rp 2,500 (30 US cents) for the purchase of school equipment, but his parents could not afford it.

Suganda said that the decision to send Heryanto home was made on Friday after a meeting between a team of doctors from Hasan Sadikin and another team of doctors from Slamet Hospital in Garut, the nearest hospital to Heryanto's home.

Besides the improvement in Heryanto's health, the demand from his family was another factor that pushed the doctors to send him home immediately.

The family had requested several times for the doctors to release Heryanto, and the decision could not be made lightly, said Suganda.

"Moreover, Heryanto himself has often talked haltingly to his parents that they should take him home. He also cited the name of his sister Restu and talked about his house in Garut," said Suganda.

Suganda said that, physically, Heryanto was fit, but his parents had a lot of therapy to do with, to help him recover his memory.

"The parents must diligently teach him how to talk, for example, in order to expedite the healing process," he said.

Suganda said that the hospital let Heryanto's parents decide whether Heryanto would be treated at home or treated for the time being at Slamet Hospital.

Heryanto's plight captured widespread media attention, particularly the state of education for poor people. It also drew the attention of public figures, including West Java Governor Danny Setiawan, Yogyakarta Governor Hamengkubuwono X and singer Sophia Latjuba. Each of them paid a visit to Heryanto in the hospital.