Medistra denies turning away AIDS patients
JAKARTA (JP): The Medistra Hospital has denied charges that it discriminates against people suffering from the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), but is keeping tight-lipped over claims that it has barred one of its medical interns from treating such patients.
"We do not reject patients with AIDS," the hospital's spokesperson R. Widiati said yesterday. "We have never put them in isolated rooms. They are treated well here," she added.
However, she declined to comment on recent reports that the hospital management has taken punitive action against a doctor employed by the hospital, Sjamsuridjal Djauzi, for treating an AIDS patient.
"But the director (Evie Tilaar) will report to the Ministry of Health and other relevant bodies regarding doctor Sjamsuridjal in a couple of days," Widiati told The Jakarta Post.
Last week, Sjamsuridjal said he had been informed by an official of the hospital that he was no longer allowed to treat AIDS patients.
Widiati said Medistra Hospital, located on Jl. Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta, has treated a number of patients admitted with AIDS.
"One of them returned home just a few months ago," she said. "But at present, we have no patients with AIDS...They have all returned to their families on their own volition."
Asked whether the hospital would readmit those patients if they returned to the hospital for further treatment, Widiati replied that she did not have details of what the hospital's response would be to such a situation.
She added, however, that none of the AIDS patients previously treated by the hospital had returned for further consultations or treatment.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Indonesian Hospital Association, Samsi Jacobalis, said that people infected with HIV/AIDS should be treated at the hospitals which already have appropriate equipment and trained personnel.
"Although the national strategy in the fight against AIDS rules out discrimination, the fact is that not all hospitals are really ready for that," he said.
"As soon as a person is diagnosed as having been infected with HIV/AIDS, we suggest that he or she be referred to such hospitals," Samsi said.
In Jakarta, hospitals which already have special equipment and specially-trained medical personnel are the state-owned Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital and the privately-owned Julianti Saroso Hospital for Infectious Diseases in North Jakarta.
Asked whether the association was considering punitive action against the Medistra Hospital should it turn out to have discriminated against AIDS sufferers, Samsi said that was a question of ethics in relation to which there are, as yet, no rules.
Widiati denied claims that the Medistra Hospital has no equipment and trained personnel to treat AIDS patients.
"We have routine lectures on AIDS and HIV for both our medical personnel and patients," she said.
The sessions help staff and patients understand how to handle patients with HIV/AIDS, including the staff who change the patients' bed sheets," she said.
The Indonesian Medical Association has made it clear in recent days that it strongly opposes any discrimination against AIDS patients on the part of hospitals.
After inaugurating a new medical rehabilitation center at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, Minister of Health Sujudi said that any AIDS patients who believe they have been discriminated against may complain to his ministry.
The ministry has published guidelines for hospitals regarding the handling of patients with HIV/AIDS, he added. (anr/01)