Woman held by hospital for failing to pay bills
Woman held by hospital for failing to pay bills
JAKARTA (JP): A 53-year-old woman, who fainted in a courtroom
last month while being tried and subsequently taken to hospital,
has been prohibited from leaving the hospital because she is
unable to pay the bill.
Nuraini was tried in the North Jakarta District Court on June
29 on charges of illegally occupying a house on Jl. Cilincing
Raya, Koja, North Jakarta. The house is reportedly owned by a man
named Putu Bagiada.
When prosecutor I Made Sudama started reading out the
indictment, Nuraini collapsed unconscious in her chair. Judge
Tapi Harahap then asked the prosecutor to take the suspect to the
Sunter Agung hospital for treatment.
Eddy Liando, a doctor at the privately run hospital, said that
Nuraini should be treated at the hospital until she is completely
recovered.
On July 15, the doctor stated that Nuraini had been cured and
could leave the hospital. However later the hospital
administrators forbade the woman to leave as she was unable to
pay the hospital bill.
The Sunter Agung hospital charged Nuraini Rp 2,000,000
(US$900) for a month's medical treatment.
Nuraini's lawyers, Waler Siahaan and Abu Mansyur from the
government-sponsored Center for Legal Aid, urged Judge Tapi
Harahap and prosecutor Made Sudama to pay the bill since it was
them who decided to send the suspect to the private hospital
instead of a state-run one.
If she had been treated at a state-run hospital she would not
have been charged anything since it would then be the
responsibility of the Pondok Bambu Correctional Institution,
where the suspect was being temporarily detained.
As new lawyers are required to serve at the Center for Legal
Aid without asking for any fees from their clients, her lawyers
are paid by the government.
"The management of the Sunter Agung hospital said Nuraini
cannot leave the hospital until she has paid the bill," Abu
Mansyur said.
Because Nuraini cannot leave the hospital, the trial has been
adjourned. "I have asked the judge about the date for the next
trial session of my client, but there has been no answer up to
now," Mansyur added.
Head of the North Jakarta District Court, Sumarjono, yesterday
promised that his office would pay for Nuraini's treatment.
"The trial should go on and not be disrupted simply because of
this unexpected case," he told The Jakarta Post.
Sumarjono added that the North Jakarta Prosecutor's Office
should also bear responsibility for the medical costs.
"It is the prosecutor's office that detained the suspect and
took her to court, so it should also take the responsibility," he
stressed, adding that it was the first time he had seen such
case.(29)