THE black telephone in one of the basements of the Kiara Building in Dr Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM), Central Jakarta, became an object that families of acute kidney injury patients have grown to fear. On Friday, October 21, they were visibly anxious every time the phone rang. Nobody dared to answer. Instead, they told somebody else around to pick it up.

Nedy, one patient’s father, whom Tempo met outside the room on