Zainoel Abidin -- a hospital run by coalition of concerned

Zainoel Abidin -- a hospital run by coalition of concerned
doctors

Andi Hajramurni
The Jakarta Post/Banda Aceh

In the pediatrics unit, Belgian and Spanish are spoken besides
Bahasa Indonesia. Over in the surgery unit it's English with an
Australian accent and German. In the high care unit, it's
Singlish with a hint of Malay.

Elsewhere in Zainoel Abidin General Hospital, they speak
French, Chinese, and even Vietnamese. And there are also an
assortment of local languages like Batak, Riau-Melayu, Makassar
and Betawi used by Jakartans.

Welcome to what is probably the most international hospital in
the world today. Around 500 doctors and medical staff, some in
the uniform of their respective countries, have been working side
by side to treat victims of the magnitude-9 earthquake and
tsunami that hit Aceh on Dec. 26.

In spite of the multicultural environment and language
differences, everyone in this hospital seems to know their place
and what is expected of them. Coordination, or lack of it, which
seems to be the chief complaint in the ongoing massive
international relief operations to help victims of the disaster,
seems to be the least of the problems in this hospital.

The activity of the hospital, however, does not conceal the
fact that it is located in the center of the town and was badly
damaged by the quake and tsunami. The hospital lost many of its
patients and more than half of its staff.

Many of its patients were moved to "safety" in the open field
outside the hospital when the quake rocked the building that
fateful Sunday morning. When the walls of black water from the
sea swept through the city, they had no chance at all.

Reminders of that disaster are still visible even as the
hospital is now working around the clock treating patients that
seem to keep coming every day.

While parts of the building have been cleaned and restored,
allowing the hospital to resume operation as of Jan. 8, other
sections remained closed because they are beyond repair.

The pile of mud cleared from inside the buildings has also not
been fully removed; a reminder to visitors of how difficult it
must have been for soldiers and volunteers to clean the place up
and allow the hospital to function.

And the tents housing the foreign medical staff outside the
hospital building tell us that this international hospital cannot
be anything but temporary.

It all seems just too good to last. It begs the question how
long will this go on?

Rus Munandar, head of the medical services, fears that the
hospital will be closed once the international and national teams
leave town.

"This hospital is running because of outside help. Once they
are gone, there is not much we can do really. All our equipment
was destroyed, sunk in thick mud and saltwater," he told The
Jakarta Post in his office on Wednesday.

Around 220 hospital workers, including many doctors, have not
reported back for duty. Their fate, like the tens of thousands
missing across Aceh, is unknown.

Work to clean the place up only began in the second week after
the disaster. All roads to the hospital were then impassable,
filled with debris, mud and bodies.

Indonesian and foreign soldiers, worked side by side to clean
up parts of the hospital that could be salvaged. When it
reopened, it had an emergency ward, an intensive care unit, a
high care unit, and last but not least, a ward for children.

Initially, some of the work had to be done in the field
hospital set up by Australia and Germany. Surgery, for example,
had to be performed in tents.

The hospital formerly could accommodate 400 patients. Now it
only has 110 beds. "We are trying to add more rooms and beds. The
number of patients is just growing every day," Munandar said.

On Wednesday, the hospital was treating 60 in-patients with
complaints ranging from tetanus, upper lung infection, and
diarrhea. It has also received an average of 200 outpatients
every day since it reopened.

The foreign teams came not only with medical staff, but also
with their own equipment and medicine. Helping to coordinate
their work are administrators from the Wahidin Sudirohusodo
Hospital in Makassar.

"There has not been any problem with coordination so far,"
Munandar says.

"The foreign doctors are all working along side our doctors.
We decide their function according to their respective skills.
The Belgians and Spanish are assigned to the pediatrician unit
because they have the doctors. The Australians and Germans are
doing the surgery because they have the equipment."

The plan is for these doctors to stay here until the end of
March.

Munandar is uncertain whether the foreign teams will donate
the equipment and leave it behind. "If they don't then this
hospital may as well close down."

But the equipment is only half of the problem. The other half
is in recruiting new staff to run the hospital, a process that
will also take a long time, and lots of funds. And there is also
the need to rebuild and restore the hospital building.

Munandar estimates that the total costs would reach Rp 100
billion ($11 million). "It's the kind of money that can only come
from the central government," he said.