Local patients seek 'personal touch' abroad

Local patients seek 'personal touch' abroad

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's lack of sufficient medical
facilities and the absence of an overall personal touch in health
care may be among reasons thousands head to Singapore every year.

Through necessity, the government has focused on meeting basic
medical provisions due to the nation's huge population and
geographic scope.

Like most of the developing world, Indonesia is an
agricultural society still beset by "traditional" health
problems, according to Dr. Karjadi Wiroatmodjo of the Dr. Soetomo
Teaching Hospital in Surabaya, East Java.

Health development programs since the late 1960s have
concentrated on maternal and child health care, family planning,
nutrition, immunization environmental sanitation.

But disease patterns are changing as a result of economic
development.

Karjadi noted that from 1985 to 1990, the number of orthopedic
surgeries at Dr. Soetomo soared by 253 percent.

Before 1990, the private sector was barred from investing in
hospitals.

Private sector participation since then has helped improve the
quality of health care in the country.

There are now 515 private institutions among 1,039 hospitals
nationwide.

But with only about 17,000 doctors, 14 percent of whom work in
private hospitals, the ratio of physicians to the current
population of 200 million is staggeringly low.

To fight heart disease, the leading cause of death, the
country can only plan setting up cardiac clinics across the
country, with the National Cardiac Center at Harapan Kita
Hospital serving as a referral center.

This is the most viable option as it is too costly to
establish more hospitals and pharmaceutical production
facilities.

In the greater Jakarta area alone, analysts project the need
for 5,000 more hospital beds by the turn of the century.

The harsh reality is there may not be enough for everyone,
including those seeking better quality medical services.

The Ministry of Health's Director General of Medical Care,
Soejoga, notes that improved education and income levels have
increased people's expectations.

They now want specialists in addition to standard general
practitioners, he said.

Soejoga maintained that motivation for people seeking medical
care abroad was not just a question of quality.

"In my opinion, our medical facilities and quality of our
doctors aren't much different from other countries," he argued.

He attributed the penchant for foreign treatment to the lack
of a personal touch among some local medical personnel.

Some doctors were unable to maintain close relationships with
patients, he said, but abroad "the patient is considered king".

But doctors in Singapore spoke highly of their counterparts in
Indonesia.

Cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon Dr. Lee Chuen Neng said
infirmaries like Harapan Kita had adequate facilities, but the
limited number of surgeries they could perform often led patients
to travel abroad.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Balaji Sadasivan made a similar observation,
adding that while hospitals like Gleneagles in Singapore had an
edge in various medical facilities, its counterpart, the Siloam
Gleneagles in Hospital in Jakarta, was being assisted to catch up
in several areas.

Balaji said a doctor's manner with patients should be thorough
and open to discussing all their concerns, particularly for
foreign ones who had traveled great distances.

Indonesian patients are "too appreciative", he said.

"You quickly bond with them and when they come back they never
forget to bring something personal for me, usually a cake. As a
result of treating so many Indonesian patients, I've probably
tasted cakes from every Indonesian region."

The holistic approach of providing all aspects of patient
needs is something which Indonesia could learn to adopt.

"Patients are apprehensive when they go abroad...We try and
make sure that they feel at home," said Tan-Hoong Chu Eng, head
of Physician Relations of Parkway Group Healthcare.

Parkway has developed a one-stop Medical Referral Center (MRC)
for patients in Singapore and abroad seeking medical assistance
or information.

"The MRC helps to arrange for the appropriate specialist
consultation, medical evacuation and even makes arrangements for
accommodation for the accompanying relative," she said, referring
to the (62) 755-2000 hot line serving both English and Indonesian
speakers.

Since its establishment last year, the MRC has received 400
calls monthly, more than half from Indonesia, she said. (09/mds)