Mother in desperate need of money to cure son

Mother in desperate need of money to cure son

JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta Police detectives picked up a
woman following a report from a local security officer who said
she was wandering the street and appeared to be in great anguish.

Second Lt. Siswanto said the police picked up the woman on Jl.
Raden Saleh after receiving the report from Junaidi, a private
security guard at an insurance firm. At the time she was
detained, the woman was with her 3-year-old baby son.

At the Central Jakarta Police station, the woman identified
herself as Rokiyah and her son as Dirham Aris, whose right eye
was swollen and covered with a bandage, Siswanto said.

She told officers she and her husband Mudali had taken their
son to the eye clinic at nearby Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital.

Rokiyah said she had tried several traditional treatments but
was unable to cure her son.

"We also went to a local health center but they refused to
treat him, telling us to go to a hospital instead," she told the
police.

She said she took Dirham to several hospitals but doctors
refused to see the boy because she could not afford to pay for
the treatment. The doctors advised her to take her son to Cipto
Mangunkusumo hospital.

The doctor at Cipto briefly looked at Dirham and simply
covered his eye with a bandage.

After leaving the examination room, Rokiyah became frantic
because her husband was no longer in the waiting room, Siswanto
said, adding that the woman then left the hospital to look for
Mudali.

According to Junaidi, he spotted Rokiyah wandering around on
Jl. Raden Saleh, repeating over and over "My son is cured, my son
is cured".

"She did not answer my questions," Junaidi said.

The security officer said he took pity on Rokiyah and gave her
money so she could return home. "But she tore up the money I gave
her."

The woman and her boy were later brought to their home in Kadu
Mangu, Sentul, Bogor. It's still unclear whether she finally met
her husband. (06)