Tag: lack of effective healthcare

Dialogue needed to solve problems at hospital in Jayapura

[Abridged in translation by TAPOL]

JOINT PRESS RELEASE
17 March 2011

The problems surrounding the moves to uphold the rights of members of
the medical profession – nurses, midwives and assistant medical
personnel – at the DokII Hospital in Jayapura have intensified and have
now led to their criminalisation. Eight nurses have been declared
suspects, five of whom are in police custody

In April 2010, medical personnel sought a meeting with the governor of
the province of Papua to discuss an improvement in their rights. On 2
December 2010, they held their first demonstration demanding payment of
an incentive that had been promised a year before by the regional
government. On 6 December, the governor issued Decision 125 ordering
that the incentive be paid from January 2010. On 17 December, during a
Christmas celebration at the hospital, the regional secretary of the
Papuan province said in his address that the incentive would be paid.
But all of a sudden, without any consultation, the governor issued
Instruction 141 on 30 December saying that the decision to pay the
incentive had been cancelled.

A number of meetings held with various official bodies including the
provincial legislative assembly, the DPRP, failed to secure any
agreement about the incentive.nor was there any response from the
provincial administration. On the contrary, the personnel were treated
as criminals. Services as the hospital were badly affected as many of
the personnel paid visits to their colleagues who were in custody, as a
sign of solidarity.

The undersigned NGOs, in a spirit of solidarity with the medical
personnel at DokII Hospital, wish to convey the following:

1. We are very concerned about the failure as yet to reach any solution
to the problems between the hospital.personnel and the Papuan provincial
administration. This long drawn out case shows that the provincial
administration is incapable of solving the problems in the healthcare
sector, which is one of the priorities under the special autonomy law.

2. We are very concerned about the fact that within a period of one
month, two instructions were issued by the governor on the matter, one
of which ordered the implementation of an instruction while the other
cancelled the instruction, without explaining the reason for this. This
has only highlighted the deficiencies in the system and the lack of
coordination and lack of understanding about governance in the province
of Papua.

3. Far from solving the problem, the criminalisation of eight medical
personnel has worsened the problem and has resulted in the paralysis of
healthcare services at DokII Jayapura Hospital .

4. We call on the police in Papua to release the five medical personnel
in custody and to withdraw the decision to criminalise them. This would
help safeguard the neutrality and authority of the police in the eyes of
the public.

5. We call on the medical personnel at DokII Hospital to continue to
comply with their responsibilities towards the community because the
Papuan people are entitled to receive proper medical attention.

6. The governor should immediately enter into dialogue with the medical
personnel in order to pay due attention to their rights, particularly
taking account of the burdens and risks involved in correcting the
management of DokII Hospital. Such a dialogue would prove that the
Papuan provincial administration has acknowledged its responsibility to
provide healthcare services while enhancing the positive reputation of
the provincial government in the eyes of the medical profession
throughout the Land of Papua.

ALDP (Alliance for Democracy in Papua), KontraS Papua,Legal Aid
Institute, Papua.

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Lawyers oppose criminalisation of the nurses in Papua

JUBI, 17 March 2011

A team of ten lawyers acting on behalf of the eight nurses from DokII General Hospital in Jayapura [who are now under arrest] have told the Papuan Provincial Administration that it is not right for the nurses to have been criminalised by the police. It would be far better to enter into dialogue as the way of solving the case.

‘We dont agree with the decision to criminalise the nurses, and we also dont agree with the disruption in healthcare services. We believe that there is space for a dialogue between the governor of Papua, the hospital director and the nurses at the hospital to seek a solution to the case, said Yusman Conoras, one of the ten lawyers.

Another lawyer, Olga Helena Hamadi, said that the nurses had indeed held a demonstration and a strike. These actions had given voice to the feelings of many people. ‘But the issue should be carefully examined in order to understand why they had done these things,’ she said. She said they had taken action because they had not been paid. They had been working hard but their rights had not been respected. She said that the matter should not be handled by the police because it relates to an internal matter which should be resolved with the government and the Papuan legislative assembly.

She warned that the continued detention of the nurses could only further complicate matters and trigger a major problem..

A press release issued by the lawyers expresed deep concern that the issue of the nurses had not yet been resolved. They were also concerned about two decisions taken by the provincial government, namely Decision No 125 concerning the payment of incentives, and then the subsequent decision to cancel the incentive payments.

The lawyers acting for the nurses include Lativa Anum Sireger, Dominggus Frans, Pieter Ell, Olga Helena Hamadi, Corry Silpa, Simon Patirajawane, Eliezer Murafer, Jimm Ell, and Yusman Conoras.

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NURSES HAVE DONE NOTHING CRIMINAL

Bintang Papua, 16 March 2011

NURSES HAVE DONE NOTHING CRIMINAL

The director of the Institute to Strengthen Civil Society in Papua, Budi Setyanto said that the police should have avoided taking excessive action which has cast suspicions on the nurses who took part in a demonstration and went on strike and were eventually detained and arrested.

The actions that they took were their spontaneous response, based on a sense of solidarity among members of the nursing profession. When approached by Bintang Papua for his reaction to the arrest of the nurses, Budi Setyanto said that the nurses should not have to face criminal charges. ‘If they did indeed take strike action which led to an interruption in the delivery of public services as DokII General Hospital, they should only face administrative sanctions, not criminal charges.’

Instruction no. 125 issued by the governor that was subsequently withdrawn happened because the policy had not been properly socialised. He said that the issue concerning the nurses need not have been taken to such an extreme.

Setyanto suggested that the initial approach to the case should be ‘to give guidance to the nurses which I am sure they will be able to understand. If they stand firm by what they have done and don’t want to go on providing their services to the public, they should be asked whether they would like to resign. If they don’t want to continue with their duties, that would be an end to the matter,’ he said.

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More reports about arrested nurses in Papua

[More reports about arrest of medical personnel in Jayapura]

JUBI 16 March 2011

The National Union of Indonesian Nurses has called on the police in the
province of Papua to release the eight nurses who work at the Jayapura Dok II General Hospital. The chairman of the organisation, Marthen Sagrim, said that failure to release the eight would create many problems.

He said that at the very least, they should not be held for long but the
best would be for all of them to be released quickly. ‘I can say for
certain that the strike that is going on will have serious repercussions
for everyone.’

He went on to say that his organisation had been in contact with nurses who are now on strike to ask them to return to their duties while waiting for the incentive payment to be paid. He said that a meeting that had been held at a hotel in Jayapura on Monday this week and had taken a number of decisions and nurses had returned to their duties on Tuesday, yet even so, there was this unexpected news about the eight arrests. ‘This simply does not make sense,’ he said. ‘These cases should be processed immediately and the people freed.’

He also said that he had made contact with all sides for a quick
solution to the problem, including with the criminal investigation unit
of the police and the DPRP, the Papuan Provincial Assembly.

—————-

JUBI 15 March 2011

It was the demand for the payment of the incentive fee to nurses at Dok II Hospital that led to a strike by a number of nurses, after which
eight of the nurses were arrested by the local police. The arrests took
place on Monday this week and several hours later, dozens of nurses
went to police headquarters in Jayapura..

The arrested nurses are: Leni Ebe, Popi Maure, Lativa Rumkabu, Stefi
Siahaya, Yolanda Inauri, Menaim Anonggear and Delila Ataruri. [Only
seven names.]

Speaking on behalf of the arrested people, their lawyer, Anum Siregar
said that the police action in arresting them was excessive. People just came out to demand their right to be paid. The police action is
damaging for the whole community,’ she said.

She said that the demand should be properly resolved. What the police
have done is not right and will only complicate matters. Actions of
solidarity will only intensify.’

She said that this matter is not one for the police to handle but for
the government to solve.

The eight people are still in police custody and are undergoing
interrogation, but the police have made no comment about the case.

As previously reported, the provincial administration promised that
nurses would receive an incentive payment in 2010, and that the payment would be made in December 2010, but this did not happen.

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Medical personnel arrested in Jayapura for ‘inciting strike’

Bintang Papua, 15 March 2011

[Abridged in translation into English]

Eight nurses and midwives have been arrested in Jayapura for their
involvement in a strike that resulting in a halt to services at the
general hospital in Jayapura. They face charges of inciting their
colleagues to take part in a strike.

[See earlier reports about the strike of medical personnel who were
protesting against the failure of the authorities to pay incentives that
had been promised more than a year ago.]

The eight persons are being held by the criminal investigation unit of
the Papuan police command. The police claim that there is sufficient
proof that the persons had acted in violation of the law, forcing others
to engage in acts of violence and citing a number of articles in
Indonesia’s criminal code. Media attempts to contact the police for
confirmation of the arrest were unsuccessful.

According to Anum Siregar, one of the lawyers acting for the eight, a
group of fifty personnel from the security forces had gone to the homes of two of the persons and told them that they must report to police headquarters in Papua. The two women, Leni Ebe and Popi Mauri, then contacted the lawyer to inform her of what had happened. The two women then reported to the police as requested, in the company of the lawyer.

The two had earlier received notification from the police that they
would be summoned as witnesses in connection with the strike action of the hospital personnel.

According to Anum Siregar, after being questioned for several hours by
the police as witnesses, the police changed tack and indicated that they were being held as suspects. Soon after, the police took the six others into custody.

According to Bintang Papua, the eight detainees have been subjected to prolonged interrogations while other personnel from the hospital have rallied in support of their colleagues. Anum Siregar accused the police of acting in violation of the rule of law, saying that the medical
personnel were only acting in defence of their legitimate rights. She
also said that the action by the police would have a negative effect on the provision of services for patients at the general hospital.

‘The impact will not be felt by officials in the province because they
never go to the local hospital for treatment on occasions when they fall ill but fly to Jakarta or overseas for treatment.’

She also said that the arrests had led to expressions of solidarity from
members of the medical profession throughout the Land of Papua in
protest against the actions of the police.

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