Nario, Yahya win medical literature prizes

Nario, Yahya win medical literature prizes

By Ivy Susanti

JAKARTA (JP): Nario Gunawan was recently awarded second prize
in a writing contest for doctors held by Medika medical journal,
for his essay on toilets in Wanasaba in East Lombok, West Nusa
Tenggara.

But the essay is not just about toilets. The 30-year-old
doctor witnessed the poor health conditions in the village when
he was first posted there in 1993 as a state physician to provide
health services and conduct research.

He became convinced that what the community needed more than
anything was clean water and sanitation, in addition to basic
health care such as immunization and mother and infant health
provided by the Ministry of Health.

Of the 12,000 residents, he learned that only 10 percent used
toilets. For the others in the village, when nature called, there
were some secluded spots in their fields or the river flowing
through the village. The same river that served as their drinking
supply.

"No wonder they had diarrhea outbreaks every year," Nario
said.

He decided that each household should set up its own toilet.
But ordering people to discard their old habits and start using a
toilet was not easy.

Nario learned that religious leaders played a big role in the
daily lives of the predominant Moslem community.

In cooperation with local leaders, he declared that those
caught defecating in the river would be publicly punished. Their
names would be announced from the mosque's loudspeaker.

"I traveled along the river at a certain time every day.
Sometimes I disguised myself by wearing kopiah (traditional black
cap) and sarong," said Nario, who is of Chinese descent.

"If I caught anyone in the act, I recorded his name."

He said the residents slowly grew to understand the importance
of toilets, and attributed the decline in the number of
infectious diseases to this new awareness.

Nario, a graduate from Airlangga University's Medical School
in Surabaya, East Java, was brought up in Indonesia's second
largest city. He learned quickly, however, to adapt to life in a
small village in one of the least developed provinces in
Indonesia.

As the only doctor in the area, he would often have to attend
three emergencies every night.

"After I received the third call, I usually could not go back
to sleep," he said.

But despite his success as a health practitioner, things did
not always go smoothly. He encountered problems in the early
stages of his three-year service in the predominant Moslem
community.

"I am not a Moslem. I tried to get to know the people through
their religious services. I joined the Ramadhan (Moslem fasting
month) safari and toured mosques with the villagers and district
heads to understand the basic needs of the community," he told
The Jakarta Post after the Medika Award ceremony.

The one lesson he learned at the end of his service was that
life is valuable no matter what ethnic or religious group a
person belongs to.

Nario is now attending a specialization course on orthopedics
at his alma mater in Surabaya.

Malaria

Nario's colleague, Achmad Fauzi Yahya, won third prize in the
contest with his essay on malaria in the Labuhan community health
center, Sumbawa Island, where he still serves as a medical
practitioner.

He realized that the proper treatment of malaria, one of the
major killers in Indonesia, required an improved health service.

The 29-year-old doctor started by retraining the medical staff
in the clinic where he was posted on health care services such as
telling mothers when to have their children immunized.

Fauzi covers nine villages scattered across Sumbawa, Medang
and Moyo islands with a population of 30,000. But while distance
is a problem, overcoming different ways of thinking is even more
difficult.

"We can't force them to think and feel like us, if we want to
serve them. I think that we have to be is a friend to them, a
partner," said Fauzi who also won the government's Dokter Teladan
1997 (1997 Model Physician) award earlier this year.

He also encountered loneliness and homesickness in the first
few months which were compounded on Nov. 15 when he married his
sweetheart Haniah who has not yet been able to join him in
Sumbawa.

Jury

The Medika Award was presented by the journal's editor Dr
Kartono Mohamad on Nov. 20 in Jakarta.

A jury comprising prominent names in the Indonesian medical
field such as A.A. Loedin, Mahar Mardjono, Prawiti Sudharmono,
Arjatmo Tjokronegoro and Zubairi Djoerban, reviewed 44 articles,
34 book reviews, and 11 reports from remote village health
clinics for the 1996 award.

The first category, articles on medical technology
development, was won by R. Boedhi Darmojo of the Diponegoro
University in Semarang, Central Java, and Sujono Hadi of Hasan
Sadikin Hospital in Bandung, West Java.

There were no first, second or third winners in the second
category, but an award was given to Uri Goldbourt from the
Neufeld Cardiac Research Institute, Sacker School of Medicine in
Tel Aviv, and to Allen R. Richards from the Immunology Department
at the Naval Medical Research Unit in Jakarta.

Nario and Fauzi won in the third category, along with Sukwan
Handali, a doctor posted in Jayawijaya regency, Irian Jaya and
Asep Purnama from the village health clinic in Dili, East Timor.