Rumah Sakit

I love the Indonesian words for hospital “rumah sakit.”  A literal translation is sick (sakit) house (rumah).  The descriptive word or adjective comes after the noun.   This last saturday, I found myself at the sick house dreading an impending medical procedure. The procedure itself is not complicated. It’s considered out-patient surgery although I needed to be under general anesthesia for the procedure.  I told my husband that I was going to run away screaming if I thought the hospital was not up to my expectations. 

I was referred to the MMC Hospital (Metropolitan Medical Center) by my Indonesian doctor at the SOS Clinic in Kuningan.  The SOS Clinic has a good reputation for having reputable doctors so I tried to have faith in the fact that my doctor was indeed qualified and that the hospital was up to standard as well. I have to admit when we pulled up to the hospital, I was rather nervous. It didn’t really look like a nice hospital from the outside.



When we got inside, the lobby area was fairly nice.  The furniture seemed rather dated, but everything was clean.  The staff was friendly and helpful.  The doctor met us at the hospital and showed us how to get registered/admitted. Everything went smoothly and quickly.

I was expecting a long wait since this is Indonesia, but my appointment was at 10am and I was in my hospital gown awaiting my procedure by a little after 10am.  I was wheeled into the operating room and put under shortly thereafter and the whole procedure was done in less than half an hour.  By 10:45am I was back at my bed waiting for the anesthesia to completely wear off. I was discharged about 45 minutes later and on my way home.  Everything went really well. I was pleasantly surprised.

So the scary part of the whole ordeal was once you were past the lobby area, the entire hospital looked to me like a throwback to decades earlier…the 1940s come to mind although the hospital is only 25 years old. The nurses even wear uniforms with the little white hats…you know what I’m talking about right?

I tried to look up the MMC hospital on google but there wasn’t much.  I did come across this site that stated:
The MMC hospital in Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan has been one of the best hospitals in Jakarta, and it has been able to keep this status, due to their complete and high-tech medical facilities, as well as the services provided.

So, I think it was a good hospital with good doctors and nurses, but I swear you would never think that looking at the place.

Here’s a picture I snapped of the labor and delivery room.  I think this is where women stay until they are wheeled to another room to have the baby.  Then they come back to this room.



Here I am after the whole ordeal.  I’m still alive and everything went well…what a relief! 



My husband said the hospital was alot nicer than he expected.  I personally would have run away if I had a choice.  I think for anything serious I would definitely consider going to Singapore.  I did trust my doctor though and my anesthesiologist spoke impeccable english and seemed very confident and qualified as well.  I can’t say that I would want to go back to another Indonesian hospital, but I must say that despite it’s outward appearance, the MMC was a good hospital. I had a positive experience overall…whew!

Oh...I forgot to mention that you have to pay for all the services up front before you are admitted.  The cost of the whole procedure including the hospital bill, doctor's bill, and anesthesiologist's bill: a little over 4 million rupiah or roughly U.S. $500.00.  The last time I had this procedure done at an over-priced hospital in the U.S., the hospital bill alone exclusive of the anesthesiologist and doctor's bills was U.S. $7000!