Leprosy hospital, patients in poor state

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

It had been a year since The Jakarta Post visited Sitanala Leprosy Hospital on Jl. Dr. Sitanala in Neglasari, here, and the condition of the hospital was worse than before.

The existing buildings and treatment halls in the 54-hectare complex were deteriorating, with wild grass growing around several unused buildings. Some former leprosy patients, who live inside the complex, were busily planting vegetables on vacant land.

To minimize its operational costs, the hospital management was forced to close down four of 14 treatment halls.

"The hospital was built in 1951. But, the government has not renovated it since, we just repair what is damaged," hospital deputy director JP Handoko Soewono said recently.

He said the hospital received some Rp 5 billion (US$548,847.42) annually from the government, but the money was just enough to cover operational costs.

Handoko said, since most leprosy patients at the hospital were from poor families, the hospital used most of the money to subsidize their treatment.

"A patient can spend up to three years in hospital before they are really cured," he said.

The hospital plans to focus on research, development and rehabilitation, in line with the Ministry of Health's decision to integrate services for lepers in public health centers and general hospitals at regental and provincial levels.

The hospital offers services to the public to supplement its income by operating an Intensive Care Unit and an Emergency Room.

"However, the public is reluctant to use these facilities. They are afraid, due to the stigma attached to the hospital," he said.

Former leprosy patients are attached to the hospital and about 1,000 of them have stayed on, living on a seven-hectare plot of land within the complex.

Satiri, 46, was committed to the hospital in 1993 and cured in 1995. He said he did not want to return home to Cirebon, West Java, because he believed his family and neighbors would reject him.

"I can't convince them that I am cured. They will just look at my physical defects and stay away from me," he said.

Satiri, who married a former leprosy patient, is cultivating vegetables inside the hospital complex to sell at the nearby market.

To supplement his income, he washes the clothes of other patients or sells them items such as soap, toothpaste or cigarettes.