Lack of training limits support for women' victims of violence
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite the rising awareness in the community toward violence against women, health workers remain unqualified to deal with such cases due to their lack of education and an absence of a proper referral system.
Speaking on Thursday at a workshop on the roles of health centers and social workers in assisting female victims of violence, researcher Ririn Habsari said that the workers did not even know how to identify or treat victims.
Ririn recently conducted research at two reproductive clinics and a public health center in Jakarta.
She found that, most of the time, health workers did not record the injuries properly, despite the fact that this was vital if the perpetrator was to be convicted.
"The status card simply does not accommodate this issue," she said.
Even when victims openly acknowledged that they had been hit by their husbands, the workers often did not follow up on it. "They still put the blame on the wives," Ririn said.
After listening to the battered women, the workers were usually confused as to where to refer them, said Ririn.
The head of the Ministry of Health's sub-directorate for prime age health, Trisnawati, confirmed the problem. She remained firm, however, that public health centers' role should be limited to identifying and referring the victims, and not counseling.
"One of the problems is that even though the victims are referred to local general hospitals, many of those facilities do not have a special center for victims of domestic violence yet," she said.
Currently only 32 hospitals, of which 16 are in Java and Bali, have special centers for domestic violence.
In 2002, the ministries of health, social affairs, the office of state minister for women's empowerment and the police signed an agreement to provide integrated services for children and women who become victims of domestic abuse.
"We have run pilot projects in 12 public health centers and four regental hospitals in eight provinces since then," said Trisnawati.
The public health center observed by Ririn was among those participating in the pilot projects.
To overcome the problem, the health ministry plans to develop modules and hold training seminars for health workers about treating and counseling the victims. The project is expected to finish in 2005.
"We have a very limited budget and other pressing issues, including birth control," said Trisnawati.
In the meantime, the ministry plans to set up teams of facilitators for 19 provinces this year to replicate the pilot programs in regional hospitals.
"We hope that all provinces can implement the programs using their own budgets," said Trisnawati. She added that violence against women was still regarded as one of the lesser priorities in the health sector.
According to data from the National Commission on Violence Against Women, there are 134 special assistance rooms for abused women and children, which are run by the police, and 137 crisis centers for women developed by non-governmental organizations across the country.
The commission recorded 5,934 cases of violence against women in 2003, of that number, 46 percent were cases of domestic violence. This number is widely believed to be the tip of an iceberg, as many victims fear that reporting their cases would create more problems in their already troubled lives.