The unpredictable flow of malnutrition patients is starting to overwhelm medical staff at Agats Regional General Hospital.
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Kompas/P Raditya Mahendra Yasa
A speedboat transports four families taking their children on Monday (22/1) to Agats Regional General Hospital to be treated for malnutrition from As Atat village in Pulau Tiga district, Asmat regency, Papua.
AGATS, KOMPAS — The unpredictable flow of malnutrition patients who continue to arrive from villages in Asmat regency, Papua, is starting to overwhelm medical staff at Agats Regional General Hospital. Agats hospital needs at least 20 more nurses.
Based on observations Monday (22/1) at Agats hospital, several midwives and nurses from other wards were moved to the emergency room to help the 15 nurses there.
Several nurses were also sent to help the 45 patients suffering from malnutrition and measles who were recovering at Agats Protestant Church. Other nurses were help to treat 41 malnutrition and measle patients at Agats hospital.
Agats hospital director Riechard Mirino said that during the extraordinary occurrence of the malnutrition and measles outbreak, the health workers were working overtime. "Nearly all nurses remain on standby at the hospital. Those who are on duty from the morning to the afternoon frequently remain on standby until the evening," said Riechard, adding that local doctors were also putting in extra hours.
A number of doctors from several institutions who were not assigned to Asmat were remaining in the villages to examine patients who were believed to have contracted measles and were suffering from malnutrition.
On Monday evening, 27 patients believed to be suffering from malnutrition and measles were sent to the districts of Fayit, Jetsy and Pulau Tiga by boat. From September 2017 up to Monday evening, at least 69 children under 5 have died in Asmat from measles and malnutrition.
Kompas/Wisnu Widiantoro
Students in the first grade sit in their class on Monday (22/1) at YPPK Don Bosco Ewer elementary school in Asmat regency, Papua. The school has only 10 teachers to teach its 200 or so students.
Proposed relocation
In Palembang, South Sumatera, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo proposed that residents in the remote areas of Asmat be relocated to the nearest cities as soon as possible, in an effort to reduce the health risk for people suffering from malnutrition and measles. The solution will be communicated soon to the regional heads for implementation.
The President made the remarks on Monday, on the sidelines of his visit to Palembang. Jokowi further said that Asmat experienced a extraordinary disease outbreak every year. "It always happens, I do not want to cover it up. The most important thing is to search for a way out so that our brothers and sisters do not contract disease," he said.
The area of an outbreak is often difficult to reach. "The locations are far from from cities," he said. The President said, for example, that to reach Agats required a three-hour journey through swamplands. "The (transportation) fare is not cheap, and can reach Rp 4 million," he said.
In Jakarta, the Health Ministry will supplement Agats hospital to help handle the health crisis. Over the next three months, it will send a rotating health team, which includes several doctors.
Kompas/Wisnu Widiantoro
Students in the first grade sit in their class on Monday (22/1) at YPPK Don Bosco Ewer elementary school in Asmat regency, Papua. The school has only 10 teachers to teach its 200 or so students.
Papua health supervisor Usman Sumantri at the Health Ministry said that tasks had been divided with the Indonesian Military (TNI). The Health Ministry was in charge of improving hospital services, while the TNI was in charge of providing basic health services at community health centers (puskesmas) and other local district locations.
"A health team from the Health Ministry will be there until January 24 and will be replaced by a second team of at least eight people, including medical specialists," said Usman.
Dato’ Sri Tahir, a philanthropist and founder of the Tahir Foundation, visited the Kompas editorial office on Monday and handed over a Rp 3 billion donation for improving health services in Asmat.
Tahir, who is also the chairman of the Mayapada Group, was accompanied by Bank Mayapada commissioner Hendra Mulyono. The two were received by Kompas chief editor Budiman Tanuredjo and Rusdi Amral, chairman of the Kompas Humanitarian Aid Foundation (DKK).
According to Tahir, the aid was from the Tahir Foundation, and was his responsibility as a citizen, a part of his religious faith and part of caring for fellow human beings.
He said he was touched by the past week’s news in the Kompas daily on the health crisis that had led to the deaths of many Asmat children.
