2nd May 2010 at the auditorium on the fifth floor of International Trade Centre (ITC), Surabaya, Indonesia, Dr. Niu Lizhi, Dr. Park Sang-ho and I were participating in the medical talk on “New Treatment Concepts for Cancer” to about 300 participants. Immediately at the end of the talks, an elderly couple took the stage and the lady picked up the microphone and began to speak. At first she looked sad then she became excited. She spoke in the Indonesian language first followed by Mandarin. She said, ‘Who says that Fuda Cancer Hospital is not good? Ask him to call me! It is one of the world’s best.” She is Melly who was born in Taiwan. More than thirty years ago, she married Mr. Wong (Suseno) and moved to live in Indonesia. Mr. Wong is a famous entrepreneur. More than a year ago, he had difficulty in urination and was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Doctors suggested surgery but he refused it. He was introduced to Fuda Cancer Hospital by a Mr. Liao who was treated for prostate cancer in our hospital four years ago, and no cancer cell was found by multiple biopsies.
I took to the stage and said, “Thank you Mdm. Melly for your praises. In fact our hospital does have its shortcomings. I have received complaints from some patients. Whatever patients’ complaints are, the problems always lie with us.”
I was telling the truth. For years, we have received many criticisms from patients; sometimes they are highly critical. Our view is: If we are at fault, we will definitely admit and rectify it. Even when we are not at fault, we are also wrong because whenever patients feel uncomfortable or fail to understand, it is our fault, too. We are always on the wrong.
On 1st April 2010 at Surabaya, Indonesia, Dr. Liu Zhengping of our Jakarta office came to see me to reflect the views of patients. One of the views was from a patient who was discharged from our hospital about a month ago. He complained that our hospital collected his urine and stool for routine examinations but the results were not shown in the discharge report. I could not fall asleep for a long time that night. The next morning, I called the ward concerned to verify the matter. The reply of the ward was that the urine and stool routine examinations were done but as the results indicated that there was no abnormality, it was not reflected it in the discharge report. I agreed that it was our fault; the patient had paid for the routine examinations, he should be informed of the results. I wrote a letter to the patient admitting our mistake and returned RMB 2000 (10 times the fee charged) to him.