North Sumatra Governor Prepares Thomsen Hospital as Regional Hospital in Nias

North Sumatra Governor Bobby Nasution is preparing RSUD dr M Thomsen Nias Gunungsitoli to become a regional hospital serving the people of the Nias Islands.

“We will make a decision on dr Thomsen Hospital so that it can be completed. This hospital is actually a regional hospital. All residents of the Nias Islands can be referred here,” he said after reviewing health services at RSUD dr M Thomsen Nias Gunungsitoli on Thursday.

He said the problems faced by the hospital, which has the status of a Regional Public Service Agency (BLUD), are currently related to administrative matters.

According to him, all assets at RSUD dr M Thomsen Nias belong to the Nias Regency Government and should have been handed over to the Gunungsitoli City Government.

RSUD dr M Thomsen Nias officially changed its name in January 2021 from the previous RSUD Gunungsitoli, which was built in 1963 by the religious organisation BNKP in cooperation with the German institution VEM and served by Dr Martin Thomsen.

“So the problem is just an administrative matter because of the regional expansion. There is confusion over who is responsible for building it, the regent or the mayor,” he said.

Nevertheless, the North Sumatra Provincial Government sees the hospital’s needs, both medically and in terms of the physical building, so that it can provide maximum services.

“We want to try to resolve the problems with damaged medical equipment or buildings,” he said.

He noted that a number of regional government-owned hospitals have now been established in the Nias Islands, such as in South Nias, North Nias and West Nias.

“This hospital has almost a complete set of doctors, not yet complete. Earlier there was a neurologist but no medical equipment, and the CT scan has been broken for two years. We will try to repair this,” Bobby said.