Number of poor soars in North Sumatra

MEDAN: The number of people living in poverty in North Sumatra has nearly doubled over the past five years, a local health official says.

The head of the North Sumatra Health Office, Fatni Sulani, said on Saturday that as of December 2002 there were 2.993 million people officially classified as poor in the province, up from 1.5 million five years ago.

Fatni said residents classified as poor were those who could not afford medical treatment or necessary medicines.

According to data from the health office, Medan municipality has the highest number of poor with 624,755 people, followed by Nias regency with 503,595, Deliserdang with 335,570, Langkat with 245,675 and Labuhan Batu with 174,155.

Fatni said poverty in the province had soared since the economic crisis struck the country in 1997. --Antara