Some 4,000 displaced by Poso conflict suffer mental disorders

Leo Wahyudi S, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The three-year-old sectarian conflict that has riven Poso, Central Sulawesi, has also led to a major mental health crisis, according to government health officials.

An estimated 4,000 people, or 30 percent, of the 20,000 displaced people returning to their homes there are reported to have various types of mental disorders with differing degrees of seriousness, Health Minister Achmad Sujudi on Wednesday.

The fighting has claimed the lives of some 2,000 Muslims and Christians. In addition, it has led to the destruction of 7,932 houses, 27 mosques, 55 churches and one temple, according to official statistics.

Altogether, more than 150,000 locals have fled to other regencies and provinces since the conflict erupted in December, 1998. The fighting has stopped -- for the moment at least -- after the two warring parties signed a peace deal late last month.

"Most of the displaced people have been living in terror for three years, so it is understandable that many have depression," Sujudi told reporters.

Sujudi was among a group of senior government officials from the Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla who visited the war-torn regency last week to assess the situation and offer relief aid.

To cope with the situation, the government has delivered Rp 1.7 billion worth of medicine and medical equipment to Poso hospital, along with ten community health centers, and Tentena.

Sujudi said that refugees with mental health problems received treatment at Poso hospital before being sent back home. He added that physical injuries received priority, though.

The post-Malino recovery program, as the health operation program is called -- after name of the peace accord, and the place where it was signed -- will take place over a six-month period, officials said.