Malnourished children hospitalized<\/p>\n
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang<\/p>\n
As the East Nusa Tenggara provincial administration declared the
\nmalnutrition problem in the region to be an emergency on Tuesday,
\ntwo malnourished children were still battling to survive in the
\nhospital.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the two children -- 10-month-old Serly Yohana Raha
\nand 13-year-old Deby Henukh -- were receiving treatment at the WZ
\nJohanis Hospital in Kupang. The two come from poor families with
\nincomes of less than Rp 100,000 (US$11) a month.<\/p>\n
According to Welly Raha, Serly's mother, her daughter rarely
\nate nutritious food. Every day, the baby consumed little else
\nbesides porridge, with none of the milk or nutrition supplements
\nthat a baby required.<\/p>\n
Deby's story was similar. Every day, the junior high school
\nstudent ate nothing more than rice or boiled corn.<\/p>\n
Hendrik Henukh, Deby's father, said that the family rarely
\nconsumed fish or vegetables.<\/p>\n
The hospital director, Hein Mooy, confirmed that the two
\nchildren were suffering from malnutrition, as well as
\ntuberculosis.<\/p>\n
"The two of them have been receiving treatment for more than a
\nweek. Currently, the doctors are doing their best to ensure their
\nrecovery by providing them with nutritious food. If we turn out
\nto have been too late, they might end up with advanced
\nmalnutrition," Hein said.<\/p>\n
Spokesman for East Nusa Tenggara's governor, Umbu Saga
\nAnakaka, announced that comprehensive measures, including free
\nmedical treatment for the poor, would be introduced to deal with
\nthe problem.<\/p>\n
"Since cases of malnutrition have occurred in more than one
\nregency, the government had decided to declare an emergency,"
\nUmbu said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He said that so far 45 children in six regencies had tested
\npositively for advanced malnutrition, locally known as busung
\nlapar, while 33,910 were suffering from malnutrition and 8,218
\nothers from poor nutrition.<\/p>\n
These figures, he said, could increase following a food and
\nwater crisis in the province following a long drought.<\/p>\n
He said some of the malnourished people were receiving
\ntreatment in hospitals while the rest of them, due to financial
\nconstraints, could not do much.<\/p>\n
A team from the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Public
\nWelfare is set to arrive soon in Kupang to conduct surveys in the
\naffected regencies. The findings of the surveys would then be
\nbrought before a coordinating meeting to deal with the food
\ncrisis and malnutrition problem.<\/p>\n
The cases of malnutrition in East Nusa Tenggara came to the
\nfore after the neighboring province of West Nusa Tenggara
\ndeclared a malnutrition emergency last week after eight children
\nunder the age of five died.<\/p>\n
As of Saturday last week, 359 cases of malnourished children
\nhad been reported across West Nusa Tenggara, mostly in West and
\nEast Lombok regencies.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/malnourished-children-hospitalized-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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