More maternity hospitals needed

More maternity hospitals needed

PADANG, West Sumatra: The head of the West Sumatra office of
the Ministry of Health, Firdaus Bahauddin, said Saturday that the
province still lacks hundreds of maternity clinics.

Firdaus said people in remote villages still have poor access
to the clinics' health services.

"We now have 1,001 maternity clinics, yet we often receive
complaints from midwives who have to go a great distance to help
women in labor," he told reporters.

He said that West Sumatra now has 2,157 midwives serving 2,059
villages.

"We are planning to establish another 526 clinics this year to
meet the demand in remote areas," he said. He added the local
administration also needed donations to provide the clinics with
proper equipment.

The administration has allocated Rp 3.5 million (US$1,460) for
the construction of each maternity clinic. "But we do not have
the money to provide the centers with the necessary equipment,"
he said. (32/imn)