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Indonesia targets foreign
doctors
By Andreas Harsono
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - The Indonesian Red
Crescent - claiming there is an oversupply of
"do-gooders" who "do not speak the language" - has
said it wants all foreign doctors helping the
Indian Ocean tsunami survivors in Aceh to leave
and hand over their emergency medical functions to
local doctors instead.
Gunawan, the
spokesman for the Indonesian Red Crescent, said in
a press briefing on Monday, "It is better if the
international community helps us with medicines
rather than sending human resources here."
Although there is now a surplus of foreign
doctors, more medicines are needed as ailments
such as malaria and dengue begin to break out.
Gunawan said the large number of foreign
doctors was "counter-productive" as "there are
language and cultural barriers with regard to the
presence of foreign doctors" that prevent them
from making a worthwhile contribution to medical
relief work.
But Acehnese such as Ismet
Nur, the co-coordinator of a grassroots relief
service in Ulle Kareng - a crowded neighborhood in
Banda Aceh - sees it another way.
"We have
cases where Indonesian doctors are perceived to be
not as professional as their international
colleagues," he told Inter Press Service.
Gunawan said the Indonesian Red Crescent
arrived in Aceh on December 27 - a day after
killer waves lashed the province killing at least
220,000 - and set up two field hospitals in
Lambaro and Pidie districts, as well as a mobile
medical facility.
The Red
Crescent spokesman said there are more than enough local
medical staff on the ground. "Altogether more than
390 [local] volunteers are involved in our work,"
said Gunawan.
At the present moment, the
local relief agency also works with volunteers
from Germany, Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan, India,
Belgium and the United States.
There are
at least 100 aid organizations - plus UN agencies
- operating in Aceh. Aid agencies have provided
emergency food, water and shelter to about 330,000
people, according to the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The agency
says the next step is to construct temporary
settlements for 150,000 families.
Because
the tsunami destroyed hospitals and medical
clinics, killing doctors and nurses, access to
quality health care has been severely restricted.
Drinking water is still in short supply and this
keeps the risk of some sort of epidemic high.
World Health Organization (WHO) officials
are worried about an outbreak of measles as well
as the risk of malaria, which is spread by
mosquitoes. The United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF) reports that measles still kill more
children than any other disease that is
preventable by vaccine.
Measles can lead
to brain damage, deafness, blindness and mental
disorders. To help prevent an outbreak of measles,
WHO has set up a program to vaccinate as many
children as possible - up to 65,000.
Currently, refugees in Aceh seem to be
suffering from diarrhea, respiratory problems and
skin infections. While these diseases are not
considered life threatening, they can lead to more
serious illnesses. Sanitation is still lacking,
and that alone can pose health risks.
To
make matters worse, last week Australian doctors
reported treating a case of Mucormycosis, a deadly
fungus that attacks the brain, lungs, skin,
kidneys and sinuses.
It is still not clear
how many doctors, anesthetists, surgeons, dentists
and nurses work in Aceh now. Bernt Apeland of the
International Committee of the Red Cross said Aceh
used to have 700 doctors and nurses. They mostly
"disappeared" during the tsunami, he told IPS.
Commenting on the Indonesian Red
Crescent's statements, Apeland said: "I do agree
that in the long run the health service should be
ran by Indonesians. But it is an emergency
situation here.
"We were asked by the
Indonesian authorities to set up a field hospital.
We always have 10 doctors - five Indonesians
working side-by-side with five internationals," he
added.
Relief worker Ismet wants the
foreign doctors to stay. He says he is skeptical
of the local medical services - and he has every
reason to be.
His son, Mahdi Anzala, a
23-year-old college student, had a bad cut in his
foot as a result of injuries sustained when he
tried to flee the killer waves. The festering
sore, because it was untreated, later developed
into a tumor. Ismet first took his son to an
Indonesian clinic to seek medical help.
"They asked me to register first, then to
show documents from my district officials - you
know, typical Indonesian bureaucracy. Later a
doctor checked Mahdi and said he should be
transferred to a bigger hospital," Ismet told IPS.
It is a common practice among Indonesian
doctors to ask their Acehnese patients to produce
their red-and-white identity cards. Red and white
are the colors of Indonesia's national flag. The
cards were specifically designed for the Acehnese
after the Indonesian government declared martial
law in Aceh in May 2003, in its fight against
separatist rebels.
Before the December 26
tsunami struck, Aceh was almost entirely closed to
any international presence due to military
operations there against the Free Aceh Movement
(GAM), which has been fighting for independence
since 1976. More than 10,000 people, mostly
civilians, have been killed since then.
Ismet said he had to thank a foreign
doctor - who happened to visit the relief camp
where he is currently seeking shelter - for saving
his son's leg.
"This Brazilian doctor saw
Mahdi's wound and decided on the spot to perform
surgery on a bench, using local anesthesia, to
remove the tumor," he said. "No questions asked,
he just [did] what he thought was best.
"When the tumor was out, it was the size
of my thumb," added Ismet.
Ismet said his
son started walking after the Brazilian doctor
came back to the camp again to remove the
bandages.
Murizal Hamzah, an Acehnese
journalist who works for the Jakarta-based Sinar
Harapan daily, also considered the Indonesian Red
Crescent's request "a bit odd".
"I have
traveled and visited many hospitals throughout
Aceh. Indeed, the foreign doctors are more popular
than local ones because the bureaucracy of the
Indonesian medical services is really notorious,"
he said.
(Inter Press
Service) |
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