Quake-hit Nabire faces shortage of medicines
Quake-hit Nabire faces shortage of medicines
The Jakarta Post, Jayapura/Kupang/Yogyakarta
Health workers in Papua are breathing easier after more people
were discharged from Nabire Hospital on Tuesday, following a
series of devastating earthquakes that have killed 32 people.
However, they are still seriously concerned about treating
outbreaks of disease after the tremors, and say hospitals are
running short of essential supplies.
More than a week after the main 6.4 magnitude quake on Nov. 25
killed more than 20 people and injured hundreds of others, only
one person in a serious condition remained in hospital, staff
said.
The number of people being treated for post-quake diseases was
also down to less than 70, after more than 2,000 were treated at
the hospital during the past week, the hospital director said.
Dr. Pieter Poddala said from Nov. 28 to Dec. 5, records showed
that 2,009 people had been brought to the hospital for medical
treatment, suffering from malaria, chronic diarrhea and
respiratory infections.
As of Monday, only 27 people with malaria, 15 with diarrhea
and 26 with respiratory infections remained at the hospital, he
said.
The spread of post-earthquake diseases was attributed to poor
sanitation and a lack of available shelter for residents
following the quakes, which destroyed hundreds of buildings and
other public infrastructure in the area.
Others who had homes still standing chose to stay outdoors
because they feared more aftershocks.
Garbage and refuse has piled up in the area, and people have
became easy targets for the anopheles mosquito, the carrier of
the malaria virus.
Poddala said that the hospital was running out of medicine and
other supplies, and more were urgently needed. While the hospital
had received many kinds of medicines, most were of the general
kind and not specialized for treating post-quake diseases, he
said.
"The supply of general medicines is huge, but we can't use it,
so it would be better to send us specific medicines that fit our
needs," Poddala said.
Antibiotics, multivitamins, analgesics, needles and surgical
gloves were among supplies the hospital could not do without, he
said.
Meanwhile, aftershocks continued to rattle the city on Monday,
but no more fatalities were reported. The local meteorological
office reported that 72 aftershocks occurred in the city between
12 a.m and 9 a.m that morning.
Up to 10 people are suspected to have died in the aftershocks,
pushing up the death toll to 32 from the 17 initially reported
dead shortly after the first quake on Friday.
Separately in Yogyakarta, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
ordered Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Monday to visit Nabire,
observe the impact of the earthquake and talk with locals. Kalla
was also ordered to visit Alor, East Nusa Tenggara, which was
also rocked by a major earthquake on Nov. 13. The Alor quake
claimed at least 34 lives and injured hundreds.
In the high-profile but belated visit, Kalla would be
accompanied by the Coordinating Minister of the People's Welfare,
Alwi Shihab, the State Minister of the Environment, Rachmat
Witoelar, and the Minister of Public Works, Joko Kirmanto.
"We have received a letter from the State Palace, telling us
the Vice President will visit Nabire on Tuesday and this will be
followed by another visit to Alor," said Umar Katili, the
secretary of the Nabire disaster management command.
Besides Jusuf Kalla, former president and Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle leader Megawati Soekarnoputri is
also scheduled to visit Nabire on Dec. 9.
Muhammadiyah, the second-biggest Muslim organization in the
country, has handed over Rp 100 million (US$11,111) in aid to
victims of the earthquake in Nabire.