Pay up or we keep baby, Indonesian clinic tells poor parents
JAKARTA (AFP) - An Indonesian clinic is keeping a baby until her impoverished parents pay the escalating bill for her delivery and care.
Her father Sutrisno, who pedals a bicyle-taxi, is 2.2 million rupiah (about 250 dollars) short of the 3.5 million rupiah owed to the clinic, The Jakarta Post reported Thursday.
The 33-year-old has so far paid 1.3 million rupiah to the Murni Asih clinic near Jakarta after borrowing from friends to cover the birth of his baby girl, earlier reported as a boy.
"I don't know where I'll get another 2.2 million rupiah from," said Sutrisno, who earns between 10,000 (just over a dollar) and 15,000 rupiah a day.
The clinic in Bojong Nangka allowed his wife Sumarni, 30, to leave on January 2 but is keeping the baby until the bill is paid, said the Kompas daily.
It said the bill has been mounting day by day as the clinic adds the costs of looking after Alfiah, who was born near midnight on December 21.
"We'll take care of the baby and will return ... (her to her) parents as soon as they've paid the 3.5 million rupiah in full," clinic spokesman Fendi Sihombing told the Post.
He said the parents had initially agreed to the arrangement, adding, "We didn't take the baby hostage."
Holding a baby until its parents pay is not uncommon in Indonesia.
The ministry of health runs a health insurance programme for the poor but the couple did not have the relevant card.
Sutrisno had failed in his efforts to obtain one as he did not have valid proof that he was a registered resident of the neighbourhood, the Kompas said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070125...t_070125113627