Another Comedy of Errors at Kasih Ibu Hospital

 Once again, I have run head-on into confusion and incompetence at Kasih Ibu Hospital. Why am I surprised? I don't know. 

I was nearly out of my usual med at the beginning of this week and I had already contacted my neurologist, Dr. Yoanes, as well as the ER staff, as per the usual procedure wherein (supposedly) the ER will contact Dr. Yoanes with my request for a new prescription, Dr. Yoanes will write the prescription, send it to the ER, and I will pick up the precscription at the ER then take it to a pharmacy of my choice (given that the hospital pharmacy charges about twice the price than that at a private pharmacy). Sound simple so far? Well of course it doesn't. It's ridiculous. Ah, but it gets even more so from here. 

I had sent several messages over the past two weeks or so both to the doctor and to the ER and had received no reply. This in itself is not so very unusual, but it is very annoying. Clearly, it would be necessary once again to personally appear at the hospital in order to get things done. I had decided that this could wait till my girlfriend returned to Java at the end of the week, but then it so happened that she had to go out to the same area to arrange something with Lion Airline, and so we took that opportunity to pop by the hospital. 

I presented to the ER, asked for my usual medication, and told them that Dr. Yoanes had not acknowledged, or even read, my request for the past two weeks. The ER nurse went to his office and returned by and by with the news that Dr. Yoanes told her he could not give me the prescription until I make an appointent with him for he had not seen my or examined me in two years. 

Well, I was stunned. Because I saw him and was examined by him in the month of September, and the reason I had done that is because he had said at that time that he could not give me a prescription until he saw me.  Good grief. I hardly knew what to say, except for a number of inappropriate things, but happily, my girlfriend was with me and she handled the communication with the nurse in Indonesian.

The nurse dispatched once again and then returned with a prescription, and also with basically the same response. The doctor had not seen me in some years, nor had he gotten blood tests for me. Now that was a choice bit to add, because he had sent me in September as well for a full blood panel, costing me 1.5 million rupiah. 

By this time, I'm starting to wonder whether I am on Candid Camera. Is this is joke? 

So, upon filling the prescription and driving back home, I wrote a number of angry messages to the doctor. These he has not read either at this point, five days after I wrote them, although the ER did just yesterday answer the message I sent some three weeks ago!

At this point, I am trying to figure out just how I want to respond to this incompetence. On the one hand, I like Dr. Yoanes and feel that he is knowledgeable concerning MS, but at patient communication he is totally worthless. Moreover, I remain completely mystified by what thinking can possibly be behind his refusal to answer, acknowledge, or even read my online requests and questions. Having myself worked in a hospital for 25 years, this is simply unacceptable. I mean, it's more than that. It's just downright weird! 

So, do I see him again and try to hash these problems out? Or do I go to another hospital in hopes of finding a better situation? Or do I just quit my med altogether and stoically bear the pain? 

I really don't know. I've got to think the damn thing through.