Tag: neglected People’s welfare

Medical personnel seriously lacking in Papua

JUBI, 2 April 2012

Taking into account the vastness of the territory of the Province of Papua, there is a serious shortage of medical personnel here. Moreover, the ratio between the number of medical personnel and the number of hospitals and clinics is also far too low.

‘If you take into account the number of hospitals, clinics and medical centres, I reckon that the shortage of medical personnel amounts to as much as 2,700,’ said the Head of the Provincial Medical Services in Papua, Josef Rinta Rachatmaka.

He said that as a way of reducing this shortage, the Provincial Medical Services intends, in co-ordination with the Agency for Personnel Education and Training in the Province of Papua, to look more closely at the data about healthcare personnel in the area.

‘On the basis of our present calculations, the number of healthcare personnel in Papua is very low indeed.. With 20 hospitals, 310 clinics and 760 healthcare centres, we need a further 2,700 medical personnel,’ he said. He said in particular that there was a need for more medical personnel in the medical health centres that are spread right across the territory.

He said that the shortage would become even more acute if new hospitals were built. The medical personnel includes the number of doctors, midwives, dieticians and so on. The key factor in any healthcare provision is that there is the right number of personnel. However many medicaments and however much money is available, if there are not enough personnel, then nothing will function properly. While agreeing that there are enough facilities, the most important thing is to have enough medical personnel. ‘Many of the facilities we have here are standing empty.’

He went on to say that whenever there are plans to build new hospitals, if the personnel are simply taken from those at the already existing facilities, this would only lead to a further lack of personnel. He said that they plan to open up new diploma courses for nurses, midwives and dieticians.’We very much hope that, as new healthcare facilities are built, there will be a sufficient number of personnel and not continue with the situation as it is at present.’

[Abridged in translation by TAPOL]

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90% of children in Kamoro leave school before completing their education

JUBI, 8 September, 2011

It is estimated that around 90 percent of children from the Kamoro ethnic group fail to continue their education after completing primary school.   There are many reasons for this.

‘Many Kamoro children dont attend primary school and this affects the number who go on to further education as a result of selection and the minimum standards attained by the children,’ said a local official.

This also reflects the situation of the primary school in Mapar, in the regency of Central Mimika where most of the children who attend primary schools fail to continue to the lower secondary schools. The main problem is where the children live.

‘We do everything we can to motivate them and accompany them but for the
parents the main problem is that they cannot find anywhere to live in Timika. And in those cases where children do attend a school in the town, many of them returned home to their kampungs after only two months for a variety of reasons, primarily because of the cost of living in the town.’

Actually, there are indeed many opportunities for Kamoro children in Timika. Freeport Indonesia has built several hostels for primary and secondary school children but there are hardly any Kamoro children living in these hostels.

One secondary school teacher said: ‘There is the problem of looking after the children and the limited capacity available for pupils coming from the Kamar primary school. We very much hope that the education service will appreciate this problem and find a way out as soon as possible, so that these children can grow up to be masters in own land.’

———————

A number of teachers in the East Mimika district have complained about the lack of facilities for education at primary and secondary schools many of which have nothing in the way of books or writing equipment.

Veronica Lasol, a primary school teacher at the Mapar primary school, complained that the government, in particular the education and cultural service, pay no attention to all this.

‘We have been suffering from a lack of facilities for a long time, and have spoken about this with the media as well, hoping to draw the attention of the government to the problem of paying attention to education facilities for children living in the kampungs,’ she told Jubi.

‘In our district, almost all the schools are functioning without decent facilities and end up teaching the chidren anything they can mange to do so as to ensure that they can complete their primary school education,’ said Agustinus Maniawasi, a primary school teacher at the YPPK primary school in Pronggo, Mimika district.

Similar complaints were made by Denisius Faruan, a primary school teacher at a school in Timika. He said that there is a need for facilities to support the education of the children. If the teachers were to get the necessary training, the complaints would decline. ‘It is all a matter of giving proper attention to the schools that now exist.’

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PT Medco refuses to pay compensation for Papuan land used for three years

[COMMENT: Here is a major company bemoaning its fate if required to pay compensation for Papuan land, without acknowledging that its operations have certainly led to the devastation of the livelihoods of the people whose land it has been using for three years. How does one weigh the demise of a company against the lives and livelihoods of indigenous Papuan people who are bereft of the land that is the very heart and soul of their physical and spiritual beings?  This is the first time we have read reports  about the absence of any compensation for Papuan people. It sums up a problem besetting Papuan people across the length and breadth of West Papua. TAPOL]JUBI, 21 April 2011

The inhabitants of Sanggase kampung, district  of Okaba, district of Merauke, have submitted a demand for compensation of sixty-five billion rupiahs from PT Medco for their operations in the kampung for the past three years, but they have had no response from the company.

In other words, the company has simply washed its hands and is not prepared to pay any compensation.

At a meeting held on Thursday this week with the district chief (bupati) of Merauke which was also attended by representatives of the local administration and military chiefs, as well as a number of local people, the representative of PT Medco in Papua Aradea Arifin,  said that paying compensation  of sixty-billion rupiahs  would mean that the company would not be able to function any more.

He said that the land being used by the company is 2,800 hectares. Should such a large amount of money be paid in a case like this?. ‘It simply means asking us to close down our company,’ he said. ‘So it is quite impossible for us to pay the community such a huge amount of money.’

He claimed that during the years of its operations in Kampung Boepe, the company had  given assistance to the local people in the form of building houses, building a church, provided motor cycles and so on which he claimed meant that the company  had acknowledged the problems confronted by the people there

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Local people reject PT Nutfa Malind-Papua in Okaba

JUBI, 18 April 2011The inhabitants of Sanggase kampung, district of Okaba are strongly against the presence o f PT Nufta Malind-Papua who plan to set up a timber factory covering the land of several inhabitants.  They said the project had never been discussed with them as owners of the land.
Inhabitants of several other kampungs, Alette, Alaku, Makaling,Iwol, Dukmiro and Wambi. The head of the Dukmiro clan, Mathias Mahuze said the construction of the factory had never been discussed with them.
He said they have no objection in principle to such projects but the local people, owners of the land must first be consulted.
If they say nothing but only enter in communications with certain elements, then they are bound to encounter difficulties when they begin their operations.

‘We have never prohibited investors from entering any of these areas, including the district of Merauke, but it is far better to prepare the necessary documents for such operations. They need to meet face to face with the local communities for well organised discussions to avoid any problems emerging in the future.

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Food Crisis after Papua Floods

CRITICAL INFORMATION


Banjir Ambarita | April 17, 2011

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/food-crisis-after-papua-floods/435985

Jayapura. Thousands of people are at risk of starvation and disease after heavy flooding in Papua’s Paniai district, an official said over the weekend.

District head Naftali Yogi said heavy rains over the past three months have led to Lake Paniai overflowing and flooding at least seven subdistricts in up to 4 meters of water, destroying homes and farmland and rendering thousands of families homeless.

There have been no reports of casualties as a direct result of the flooding.

“The situation now is pretty grim because so much agricultural land and so many fish farms have been flooded and can’t be harvested,” he said.

“This means that around 10,000 people who are subsistence farmers and rely on prompt harvests are at risk of starvation.”

Naftali said the extent of the flooding also made outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, respiratory ailments and malaria more likely.

“We don’t have enough medical supplies or health workers to respond to a potential outbreak,” he said.

“So we’re calling on all residents not to drink water from the lake. Drink rainwater instead.”

He added his administration was already distributing food supplies to residents, including uncooked rice and instant noodles — both of which need to be cooked in clean water. However, authorities have not distributed any potable water.

“We’ve been given Rp 1 billion [$115,000] in relief aid from the provincial administration and Rp 500 million from Jakarta, but that’s only enough for a month,” Naftali said.

“We expect many residents won’t be able to farm for another two years, so they’ll need food aid until then.”

Authorities have not set up shelters for the evacuees, who have been forced to stay with family and friends or out in the open.

“We’re still looking for sites where we can set up temporary shelters for those rendered homeless,” Naftali said.

He blamed the flooding on the increased sedimentation in Lake Paniai, which he said was a result of the clearing of forests in areas adjacent to the lake.

“About 10 years ago the military scorched the forests because they suspected that separatists were hiding out there, and since then there hasn’t been any effort to reforest the area,” he said.

Besides the effects of deforestation and subsequent flooding, Naftali said the district was also at threat from illegal mining.

He said illegal gold mines in Baya Biru subdistrict were responsible for large-scale pollution and environmental degradation.

“We’ve given the companies responsible until June to halt their activities, but obviously this is a tricky issue to handle,” Naftali said.

“There are an estimated 7,000 people working in the industry there.”

He said previous calls by the district and Papuan administrations for a halt to the illegal mining had fallen on deaf ears because of the many interests involved in the industry.

“Those mines are so remote that you can only get there by helicopter,” he said.

“If those helicopter services could be stopped, there would be no more mining, but they continue to transport workers, supplies and ore in and out of there.”

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