Local upmarket hospitals lure the rich to seek treatment

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): Fierce competition leading to an improvement in the health services on offer has resulted since the government opened the door to joint-venture hospitals run in cooperation with foreign investors in 1990.

The regulation has led to a wider range of treatments being made available to those who can afford to pay.

Now, hospital managers can no longer take the view that the patients need them more than they need the patients.

Instead, they have had to acquire the latest and the most sophisticated medical equipments to entice patients they would otherwise lose to the competition.

Some upmarket hospitals even offer five-star-hotel-room facilities for affluent patients.

The most luxurious rooms in a private hospital are air conditioned and usually come equipped with a telephone, television, living room, bathroom and even kitchenette.

Some also provide comfortable and air conditioned lobbies and waiting rooms, banks, coffee shops, drug stores, bakeries, gift shops and florists.

Nightly room rates vary depending on the facilities on offer. Typically a third class room will cost Rp 45,000 per day, rising to Rp 1.7 million per day for a suite.

Despite this, some people still prefer to seek medical treatments abroad, even in this time of crisis.

Sofiati A. Latief, 43, has taken her family for routine check- up examinations in Singapore's Mount Elizabeth hospital ever since she had a bad experience with a private hospitals here.

"Once, when I had sinusitis, I was told I needed surgery. But when I sought a second opinion abroad, it turned out that surgery was not necessary," Sofiati, a dentist and mother of three, told The Jakarta Post.

She also said that a local doctor told her that her child, who had an abnormal growth on his neck, would need an operation. A second opinion given by a Singaporean doctor contradicted this diagnosis.

"In Singapore, the doctors are willing to listen to the patients and they are only allowed to serve a limited number of people. But here, the doctors don't have time to listen, they rush everything because they have lots of patients waiting," said Sofiati.

Another thing that makes her prefer foreign hospital's is the doctors' punctuality.

"We never waste any time because appointments are always when they're supposed to be."

Here, she said, some hospitals treat patients according to their social status. "Many hospitals here even judge people according to how they are dressed... I feel very disappointed," Sofiati said.

Unlike Sofiati, many others who swore by overseas medical treatment have had to give up this luxury since the monetary crisis began.

"Just think, I have to pay Rp 1 million for the exit tax on every trip overseas. Then there's the cost of medical treatment on top of that, which is in dollars," said Haryadi, not his real name.

The 47-year-old health consultant, who suffers from heart problems, used to go to Singapore once every six months for a check up. He now goes to a private hospital in the Kuningan area of South Jakarta.

"Fortunately, I know the doctor who treats me here, so I get a very good service," he said.

Ministry of Health Director General of Medical Services Sri Astuti said she has noticed a decline in the number of people seeking medical treatment abroad.

"Our observations show that recently many people have started to seek treatment in hospitals here because of the monetary crisis," she said without giving any figures.

The ministry said there are 45 private hospitals in the city, including one that is under foreign ownership.

So is it really necessary to seek medical treatment abroad?

The director of Metropolitan Medical Center (MMC), Muki Reksoprodjo, pointed out some of the reasons why people seek treatment abroad.

Among reasons cited were distrust of local doctors' clinical judgment and the quality of treatment available in hospitals here, tales of good experiences other members of the family have had abroad, status and to safeguard confidentiality.

There is also a real need to go abroad in search of certain treatments or facilities due to a lack of equipment here, he said, citing the gamma knife bloodless neuro-surgery as among the examples.

Chance

Many upmarket hospitals here, faced with a decline in the number of patients, have been trying to lure rich people deterred from going abroad by the monetary crisis.

"This is the right time for us to improve services and attract those who used to get medical treatment abroad," Pondok Indah Hospital director of business and support services, Hartono, told the Post.

He acknowledged that many people preferred to go abroad to take advantage of the better services on offer.

Among factors contributing to poor services here, he said, is a gulf in skills between doctors and nurses.

Pondok Indah Hospital director for medical and clinical services, Mus Aida, revealed that unlike foreign nurses, most of whom are college and university graduates, local nurses have only been schooled up to senior high school level.

"Their poor education leads to a communication gap with doctors and many don't understand how to treat patients well," Aida said.

In an effort to reduce this gap, Pondok Indah hospital is continuing to hire foreign instructors to train its local nurses.

Siloam Gleneagles Hospital managing director Jessy Quantero said that it was no longer necessary for people to seek medical treatment abroad because hospitals here could give them the best quality medical services on offer.

She boasted that Siloam has facilities and treatments to match medical services abroad.

"It's about time people switched to hospitals here," she said.

The 16,000-square-meter Siloam in Lippo Karawaci township in Tangerang, West Java, is the first hospital here to involve foreign investors.

Chairman of the Indonesian Hospitals Association, A.W. Boediarso, said people sought medical treatment abroad because both facilities and services were better.

He said that from medical expertise and techniques, local doctors and hospitals were not inferior compared to their foreign colleagues, but "from our ability in providing services, we are".