Country Doctor a Hero to Indonesia's Poor
Jakarta Globe, Candra Malik | December 10, 2010
Lo Siaw Ging says he is just an ordinary doctor. “There’s nothing special about me,” he said. However, for many people in Solo, Central Java, Lo is a hero — even a living legend.
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| Seventy-six-year-old Dr. Lo Siaw Ging, who ran Kasih Ibu Hospital until 2004, says that he still offers patients free treatment out of ‘a love of life, not for money.’ (JG Photo/Candra Malik) |
Over the past 46 years, he has been treating patients without ever charging them a penny. The general practitioner, who graduated from Airlangga University’s School of Medicine in 1962, spends millions of rupiah per month, out of his own pocket, to provide medicine to his patients. “I do it out of a love for life, not for money,” he said.
Lo, born in Magelang, Central Java, on Aug. 16, 1934, signed up to be a public servant in Solo in 1964. “I assisted Dr. Oen Boen Ing at the Panti Kosala Hospital. He founded the Polyclinic of Tsi Sheng Yuan in 1933, which later became Panti Kosala Hospital and eventually, Dr. Oen Hospital,” Lo said.
Lo found Oen to be a doctor and teacher who he greatly respected. “From my late father, Lo Ban Tjiang, I learned the saying, ‘If you want to trade, do not be a doctor. If you want to be a doctor, do not do any trade.’ From Dr. Oen, I learned to put this message into practice in my daily work,” he said.
For that reason, he never charges his patients nor writes them expensive prescriptions. “I choose to give generic drugs and other medications at affordable prices,” he said.
“Thankfully, there are the anonymous donors who are willing to assist in this humanitarian work. They know me personally and believe in what I do.”
Whenever his patients have problems that need further treatment, Lo provides referral letters that let them get medication at hospitals for free or he contacts other doctors to see if he can get more affordable fees for their treatments.
In 1981, he was made the managing director of Kasih Ibu Hospital, which he developed from a maternity specialist into a general care public hospital.
Lo ran the hospital until 2004, but he still has a small office in the front of the building where he provides free services. ”I never want to retire from this duty. For me, being a doctor is a life calling,” said Lo, who is now 76 years old and still walks upright, although one of his legs was injured in a collision a few years ago.
In his house in Jagalan, Lo also accepts patients from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to at 8 p.m., every day except Sundays and holidays. However, he never put a sign for his free clinic outside his house. Instead he put it on a wall in front of his office that is not visible from the street.
“Everyone knows that I am a doctor. People know what I’ve done. I no longer need a sign,” he said.
According to Lo, he can do his humanitarian work as a doctor because he was able to get an affordable medical education. “Things were different from how they are now. I never felt I had to pay back my tuition fee by charging patients and writing them expensive prescriptions. Today’s doctors face the demands of the time. They risk their livelihoods by helping patients. I am grateful I did not experience that,” he said.
Oemijati, a former nurse who worked with Lo for many years, said she could still vividly remember how he treated patients while at what was then called Panti Kosala Hospital. “The doctor had a book that listed the names of soldiers that had been given free treatment. The book was very thick. In addition to getting subsidized care from the hospital, Doctor Lo voluntarily cut his salary to help patients afford treatments, including soldiers and the poor,” she said.
Oemijati followed Lo when he moved to Kasih Ibu Hospital and witnessed him continue to perform similar acts of kindness. “As the managing director of the hospital, he was loved by his employees because he fought for our right to get pension money.”
At his free home clinic, Lo has never been supported by an assistant or nurse. In the waiting room in front of the doctor’s office, he does not employ a receptionist.
Sri Winami, a 39-year old resident of Kepatihan village, remembers Lo telling patients, “Whoever comes first, please knock on the door and go straight in to see the doctor. Whoever comes later, please line up in the chairs.”
“That’s the first rule I learned when I was a child and my mother took me to seek treatment there,” she said. “The second rule is, do not try to pay unless you want to get yelled at by the doctor,” she added.
One afternoon in early September, a woman named Sumarni brought her 4-year-old daughter, Rosita Amalia, who was suffering from a fever and cough, to see the doctor. ”If you are not familiar with Doctor Lo’s style, you might find yourself surprised that he is yelling at you. He likes to yell at patients, but it’s just a character he plays. From the bottom of his heart, he is a kind doctor,” she said.
According to Sumarni, Lo is always angry when sick patients avoid getting checked out for too long, and he gets even angrier if they try to pay him. “Lo always says, ‘Do you really have the money? Don’t lie to me!’ when he refuses payment.”
Lo has been called a hero of the poor. He even kept his door open when riots targeting Chinese-Indonesians broke out across the country, including in Solo, back in May 1998. “I am indeed of Chinese descent. However, I have lived in Solo for decades and devoted myself to humanity. Why should I be afraid?” he said, recalling those turbulent days. At the time, his neighbors begged Lo and his wife, Maria Gan May Kwee, to flee or at least stop accepting patients.
“Doctor Lo refused,” said one of his neighbors, Wiwik Haryanti.
Lo has gone on to treat countless patients who might not otherwise have received care. It is no exaggeration to say that he is a hero to thousands of people.
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