THE air-conditioner cooled room number three of the Stroke Unit, located in the Soepardjo Rustam Pavilion at Jakarta's Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital. Last Thursday, behind a white curtain surrounding a patient's bed in the VVIP room, a woman covered by a black-and-white-striped blanket lay powerless.

It was a quiet afternoon. Only the slow, regular breathing of the woman broke the silence. She was no longer attached to an intravenous drip. Her h