Humanitarian Missions Rolling In

Various sides, from government offices, to military and private organizations, are carrying out humanitarian missions in Asmat.

KOMPAS/WISNU WIDIANTORO

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JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Humanitarian missions keep rolling in into Asmat regency, Papua, where there have been outbreaks of measles and malnutrition. As of Tuesday (16/1) night, according to Kompas data, the death toll from measles and malnutrition since October 2017 stood at 67 children.

The Health Ministry started to intervene with the crisis Asmat by sending in medical workers and help with logistics, with personnel being sent to more densely populated areas faster.

Health Ministry communication and public services head Oscar Primadi said the spread of the disease in Asmat had been rapid. Thus, the ministry needed to provide help. “Initially, we hoped our colleagues in the province could handle the problem. But it escalated quickly. Thus, the ministry will intervene,” Oscar told the press at the ministry in Jakarta yesterday.

Oscar said 39 medical workers had been and will be sent to Asmat. The first batch was sent on Tuesday (16/1), and the rest will be sent on Tuesday next week (23/1). The 39 medical workers consist of 11 specialist physicians, four general physicians, three surgery nurses, two anesthesiologists and 19 medical workers including nutritionists, environmental health experts and surveillance workers.

The ministry also sent 1,100 packs of measles vaccines, three tons of food, medicine and 2,000 tablets of sterilizing tablets to produce clean water. Aside from measles immunization, the ministry also provides basic immunizations.

Counseling program

In Agats, the capital of Asmat regency, the Asmat administration is a preparing a sustainable counseling program in kampungs, which generally have substandard health services. The program aims to prevent outbreaks from happening in the future, which in the past four months have killed dozens of Asmat children, said Asmat Regent Elisa Kambu in a statement after visiting patients at Agats Hospital on Tuesday.

According to Kompas observation, as of Tuesday, 15 people were being treated at Agats Hospital for malnutrition and measles. Of that number, three children under three years old and one adult were new patients, and were admitted for malnourishment.

Kompas/Wisnu Widiantoro

Marceline Waser, 2, treated at Agats general hospital, Asmat regency, Papua, for malnutrition, Tuesday (16/1).

Since Jan. 8, Agats Hospital has treated 18 measles and malnutrition patients. Of that number, three malnourished child patients have died.

Elisa said the Asmat administration was focusing on administering measles vaccines to all kampungs in Asmat villages. After this was all completed, he said, counseling would begin.

“The counseling will be in the form of deploying medical workers to monitor the health of residents. Also, we will provide basic food for each family suffering from malnutrition,” Elisa said.

The regent said the counseling required many medical workers in order to reach all 224 kampungs across the 23 subdistricts in Asmat. Thus, he said, his office would check possible cooperation with some institutions for supplying health workers to Asmat. “The Indonesian Military [TNI] has specialist and general physicians. We can work with the TNI,” Elisa said.

Merauke Military Command chief Brig. Gen. Asep Gunawan said 36 physicians and several health workers from TNI headquarters would be deployed at Agats Hospital and to some kampungs with high rates of measles and malnutrition. “Our medical team will be deployed to Asmat villages for a while so people will get a good quality of health care,” Asep added.

Surabaya City administration will send a second batch of aid to measles and malnutrition victims in Asmat. This time, the aid will be in the form of medicine and nutritious foods. “The first delivery has been sent but there is some leftover, so we will send it again,” said Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini on Tuesday.

On Tuesday night, the Kompas Humanitarian Fund, collected from Kompas readers, was brought to Timika onboard the Airfast Indonesia aircraft. The planes are usually used for PT Freeport Indonesia activities.

Elisa also welcomed 53 medical personnel, members of the TNI Health Task Force, who arrived in Timika Air Base, Papua, on Tuesday. The 53 TNI medical workers will join 30 medical personnel from Cenderawasih Military Command and 174/ATW Military Command to deal with the measles and malnutrition outbreak.

Papua province, including Asmat, has a chance to fix its health problem with the special autonomy funds for Papua and West Papua. The special fund is two percent of the general allocation fund stipulated in the state budget. The special fund is mainly intended for the financing of the education and health sectors.

Papua receives 70 percent of the special fund and West Papua gets 30 percent. Citing the 2018 State Budget fiscal note, the two provinces will also receive extra infrastructure funds at least until the year 2033, with the aim to connect all regencies/cities, districts and population centers by quality land, sea and air transportation.

(FLO/SYA/DD18/LAS/EDN)