Hospital and conscience

Last Sunday night, my driver's son was caught in a fight and stabbed in his stomach. His friends rushed him to the nearest public hospital: RS Fatmawati.

When his father arrived at the hospital several hours later, his son, who was in a coma and had lost a lot of blood from the deep wound, had not yet received any treatment. He was then told that his son could not be taken care of unless he would give a deposit of Rp 250,000 which of course he did not have on him.

He pleaded for his son's life, offered his KTP (ID) and SIM (driver's license) begging them to treat his son while he was looking for the money. Nothing was done and the hospital only took care of the son the following morning after the money could be raised. His son in the meantime was in a coma for 10 hours.

The hospital's argument is that this being the rule, they cannot treat a patient even in cases of emergency when a person's life is in danger. Several people have since confirmed to me that this is the way RS Fatmawati deals with its patients.

In my mind, this raises a few questions: Isn't it the duty of the medical staff and hospitals to save people's lives? Is life so cheap in Indonesia that rules are more important than a person's life? How many people have died as a result of this rule? And where should low-income people go in case of emergency when public hospitals will not treat them if they do not have sufficient money?

OLVIA REKSODIPOETRO

Jakarta