Boy dies due to malnutrition after months in Ambon shelter

M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon

Two days after he was taken to Al-Fatah Hospital in Ambon, 15- month-old Harun died of malnutrition on Wednesday. Already weak from consuming only water and milk for the last two months, even intravenous feeding could not save him.

Harun was one of many malnourished children living in a shelter for Ambon's displaced persons.

At the time Harun died two other malnourished children -- seven-year-old Rivaldi and 11-year-old Mudita from another shelter in Batumerah -- were fighting for their lives at the same hospital.

As if losing his child was not enough, Harun's father, 40-year-old La Ata, was stressed and confused when the hospital asked him to pay their bill before they would release his child's body for burial.

As a poor pedicab driver, whose son was referred to the hospital by Waihaong community health center's doctor, La Ata relied on his health card to get free treatment.

Responding to La Ata's panicked call, head of the community health center, Wendy Pattisahuwa, contacted the hospital to explain that the patient suffered from malnutrition and came from a very poor family.

Wendy said that after listening to her explanation the hospital did not demand payment. Moreover, Maluku governor Karel Albert Ralahalu has announced that the administration would take care of costs for treating children suffering from malnutrition, she added.

Wendy said although La Ata has a health card his family is not covered by Askes medical insurance because they are not listed as being poor on Maluku's Family Planning Coordinating Board's database, which differs from data held by community health centers and subdistrict offices.

"This is the reason why his card was not recognized by the hospital since it is not listed by Askes," she said.

In Ambon city, health cards have been issued to 15,000 people, with 487 of them in the Waihaong subdistrict. This figure does not reflect the actual number of poor families living in the subdistrict, as there are some 575 poor families living in the displaced persons shelter alone.

"This kind of problem, being excluded from Askes insurance although they're poor, makes some families reluctant to go to hospital fearing they might have to pay," Wendy said.

An operation conducted by a team of doctors in Waihapong on Tuesday found that 40 of 209 children in the shelter were malnourished.

An official of the Waihaong subdistrict, Nasir Rumata, regretted the standard used by the family planning board in determining poor families, since many poor people in his subdistrict were excluded.

"I wonder which data it (the board) is using. They should at least coordinate with the community health center or subdistrict because we have the real figures," he said.

According to Maluku province's Health Office, of the 157,000 children under five-years old in the province as of May 2005, 3,140 of them were suffering from malnutrition. Many of them could be found on the island of Seram, just north of Ambon. At least four other children were reportedly already suffering from marasmus.