Aceh needs more medicine, not foreign doctors: Aid official

Aceh needs more medicine, not foreign doctors: Aid official

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Tsunami-stricken areas in Indonesia were in need of more medical
supplies rather than additional medical workers due to the
declining number of patients and the already excessive number of
medical workers, a senior aid official said on Monday.

Gunawan, deputy head of the Indonesian Red Cross, said that
the number of medical workers in Aceh and North Sumatra had
surpassed needs and that no additional medical workers,
especially from foreign countries, were needed.

"Therefore, we can reduce the number of medical workers
especially as the number of patients visiting field hospitals and
health posts is falling anyway. It will be more useful if aid
comes more in the form of medical equipment and medicine
instead," he told reporters.

The Aceh health agency estimates that there are more than
10,000 local and international medical workers currently working
in the province, which was pulverized last month by a 9.0-
magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that claimed more
than 200,000 lives.

Approximately 400,000 others are now living in makeshift
tents, leaving them highly vulnerable to communicable diseases.

"Besides, the types of diseases that we are facing at the
moment are more common illnesses rather than those specifically
related to the tsunami," Gunawan argued.

Furthermore, he added, differences in language and culture
constrained foreign doctors and nurses, making their assistance
in the massive relief effort less than optimal.

World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman Bob Dietz told AFP
that he did "not necessarily agree" with Gunawan's assessment.

Dietz said "we are struggling to keep up with the generosity
of the rest of the world" in terms of providing medical supplies,
equipment and personnel to the provinces of Aceh and North
Sumatra.

WHO deputy director-general Jack Chow said last week that
while Aceh seemed to have escaped post-tsunami epidemics,
"there's still a critical need for primary health care, water,
doctors and nurses".

He argued that the heavy wet season in the country meant that
diseases like malaria and dengue become more prevalent.

"We have to remain vigilant. I think we are fortunate that we
haven't had this spike of communicable illnesses. We can't let
our foot off the accelerator."

Chow said the relief effort was now "somewhere between" the
emergency phase and the rebuilding phase, and that the health
authorities needed to install the "building blocks of clean water
and sanitation" to safeguard displaced people.