Discrimination against Askes holder

Things like what I'm going to tell you next is something patients actually do not expect but something they should acticipate greatly, especially when they are being hospitalized in a government run hospital and have Askes as their sponsor.

My uncle is due for a prostate removal surgery on Monday, and starting from last Thursday he have to stay at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital. Usually, my uncle get two kind of tubes injected into his blood vessels, one labeled red for intake fluid and another labeled blue for drain fluid. But later, he got two red tubes. Thinking that it might be a mistake, his daughter asked a nurse on duty about that. It was not an answer she got, but a holler "HOW COULD YOU KNOW BETTER????" It seemed that patients have no right to help nurses from getting filed for malpractice.

Later, that same nurse broke a needle and nearly cause a fatal situation. Seeing this uncapable nurse treating his illness, my uncle, a man of few words, could not help but release his anguish by screaming, telling her to get out of his room.

It is still lucky for my uncle for getting attention from nurses, although improper one. Some emergency patients wait for hours before getting the slightest attention, which is a form to sign stating that you must downpay the medical expense. Most wait in vain.

My next-door neighbor could survive this using a flamboyant tactic. Before rushing to get her son to a hospital after he broke his leg, she remembered what her friends about how to get hospital administrators first attention on such emergency: Dress really really nicely and wear lavish jewelry as if you're going to a wedding party. She did, and within seconds her kid got all the treatment he needed.

It's not about sexy dress with big cleavage, as most hospital administrators are female. They're interested in seeing those earrings, necklace, bracelets, and rings with big rocks on them, which assure them that you are a respectable customer with financial security. Not like normal people, hospital administrators judge books by their jewelries.

Dressing nicely before rushing to emergency room is not something that everybody remembers to do. However, it's one of first aid actions, besides CPR and bandages.

It is a common knowledge that hospitals often frown upon patients whose bill is covered by Askes. They see them as "poor patients who come for free treatment". Nurse s smile less for them, grunt the Marge Simpson way a lot when taking blood samples, and yell to chase the visitors away when visiting time is over. What a terrible mistake it is, especially when done by supposed angels of mercy.

Don't they know that those patients have paid a lot for their medical insurance, cut from their monthly salary? I quote Mrs Minister of Health, "Askes is the main fund resource of hospitals" from one of her TV interviews. Not knowing this important fact finally leads those ignorant nurses into behaving in such unacceptable manners because service rendered in bad tempered is not something they should pay back to their respectable patros, Askes policy holders.