Indonesia: State of Healthcare

I was browsing a September-October copy of the Indonesia Expat when i saw an article about a guy's observations on the current health care system in Indonesia(It's called Medical Anomalies). The cited incidents were amusing yet not very good. The  circumstances mentioned suggests that the overall condition  of the healthcare system here is less than satisfactory.  Probably there's some truth (more or less)about the whole account, but it seemed the scope of the analysis was only on the simplest or stand-alone establishments he or his friends had been at.

I had a surgery before, and prior to that my my Indonesian colleagues were telling me to go to Singapore because its far better to have it done there. But since i didn't want to prolong the waiting time, I went to a hospital here in Jakarta. I was hospitalised for over a week because of the complexity of the surgery but nonetheless it went well without a hitch. So when I read that the "well-off people of Indonesia need medical treatment, they often head to Singapore", then I thought Maybe it is not about the quality of healthcare that is the problem here. I am sure the new (big) hospitals are qualified, skilful and proficient enough to treat people, its just that that rich people are too proud to patronise their own people...

I have a colleague who had a motorbike accident and broken 2 bones in his leg had plates and pins and is on the road to full recovery. There has been no complications or issues. He is in England and now and the doctors there have said nothing contrary to the advice he was given here. My wife had a caesarean to deliver my son and the care she received was amazing. For me I am rarely sick but the last few times I have been I met an English speaking doctor at my local hospital, its not a special Expat one but just a normal city hospital which was excellent.
However, the horror stories do outweigh the good I guess and so I can understand why certain generations choose to receive health care overseas. As there are tiers to hospital care here, I guess the more you pay the better service you get and the more trained staff available. Some hospitals have better reputations than others and again this helps explain mistrust in the level of care.
If I fall ill I am not in position to fly to Singapore or Malaysia for care, I will go to the local hospital and check in, in the belief that if they can look after me once then they can do it again.

You can bet that the vast majority of Indonesians who go to Singapore for their medical care are Chinese-Indonesians.  And that's just the way it is.    :|

As for me and my family, we've all had nothing but excellent experiences with the medical care here.  That said, I do admit that in my early years of living here I would head off to Bumrungrad in Bangkok for my own care...but not these days.

I am happy using the local hospitals and doctors for most illnesses. However, should I need another knee operation or another back operation for a slipped disc or something else very important then without doubt I would go overseas to Singapore or Malaysia. Same goes for my wife and kids, anything major and we would go overseas.