The Jayawijaya district administration in Papua province is still facing a shortage of general practitioners and pharmacists, according to head of the district’s Health Office, Willy Mambieuw.

“As a result, several community health centers still have no general practitioners and pharmacists at all,” he said in Wamena, the capital of Jayawijaya district, on Friday.

Each of the public health centers must have a general practitioner and a specialist doctor, he said, adding that the district has 27 public health centers spread across 40 sub-districts.

To cope with the shortage of full-time general practitioners and pharmacists at several community health centers, Mambieuw said his office is temporarily employing contract healthcare workers.

At the same time, he said, he has sent a request to the district government for recruiting full-time general practitioners at local community health centers.

ANTARA has reported how the security and safety of medical workers in Papua has become a serious issue in the light of the deaths of a doctor during deadly rioting in Wamena on September 2019 and a healthcare worker in Kiwirok sub-district, Pegunungan Bintang district on September 13, 2021.

The Indonesian Medical Association (IDI)-Papua chapter recently appealed to the Papua administration and the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police (Polri) to guarantee the security and safety of all healthcare workers across the province.

The guarantee is a must to ensure the sustainability of medical and healthcare services for Papuan communities all over the province, IDI-Papua chapter chairperson, Donald Aronggear, said in a statement.

The organization urged the Papua administration to coordinate with regional governments as well as religious, customary, and community leaders to ensure the safety of all health workers in Papua.

In September 2019, 53-year-old doctor Soeko Marsetiyo was killed in a deadly riot that broke out in Wamena, the capital of Jayawijaya district.

Following Soeko’s death, several doctors at the Wamena public hospital had asked to leave the hospital for security reasons.

Then, on September 13, 2021, a deadly assault launched by the Lamek Tablo-led separatist terrorist group on several public facilities, including a public health center, and homes in Kiwirok led to the death of a female healthcare worker, identified as Gabriela Meilan.
 

Source: Antara News