Last year, Dateline’s David O’Shea showed us a side of Bali life that the tourists who flock there never see, mentally ill Balinese held like animals in chains, cages and even medieval stocks – in this day and age, almost unbelievable. Later last year, word reached Dateline that there’d been some ‘good news’ developments to that story. Intrigued, our man O’Shea went back to Bali and discovered that the work of one good Samaritan psychiatrist and her team had resulted in dramatic improvements in their patience, but that progress it seems, has come at a pretty hefty price.
David accompanies Bali’s leading psychiatrist, Dr. Luh Ketut Suryani, as she goes from village to village visiting her patients and providing them with treatment. Her holistic approach combines modern psychiatry and anti-psychotic drugs with Balinese spiritualism.Dr Suryani is Bali’s leading psychiatrist and the only one regularly getting out into the villages. After SBS went to air last year, she finally received 1 billion rupiah, or about $120,000, from Bali’s governor – enough to treat over 300 patients for one year. But, then, in December, he slashed that budget by 90% without consulting her, apparently after listening to jealous critics of her program. Dr Suryani knows her patients won’t be able to afford the expensive medicine she’s been giving out for free. But, with the governor’s money drying up, she needs to find out whether the families can afford to pay at least some of the cost.
