Asmat regency in Papua has decided to limit access to and from the area for 28 days, starting last Sunday, after eight people in the regency’s capital Agats tested positive for covid-19 on Saturday, reports The Jakarta Post.

Acting Asmat regent Triwarno Purnomo said the administration would only allow ships carrying staple supplies to enter Asmat during the restriction.

However, Pelni ships carrying passengers are prohibited from entering, while air transportation activities are only available for emergencies.

Besides access limitation, Asmat has also applied a curfew, with business activities now only allowed to run between 6 am and 6 pm local time, while previously they were allowed until 9 pm.

“We also halt educational and religious activities, while limiting office hours until 2 p.m. Moreover, only five people are allowed to be in each office site [on a daily basis],” said Triwarno.

Kompas.id reported on Sunday that the eight people had mild symptoms and were under self-isolation in their respective houses.

According to the Asmat covid-19 task force, the five infected people worked as healthcare workers at Agats Regional General Hospital (RSUD) and a community health center (Puskesmas). As a result, the RSUD had to temporarily shut down its outpatient care unit due to the transmission cases.

Previously a green zone
Previously, Asmat was a covid-19 green zone. An area is considered a green zone when it is no longer recording any cases.

With the latest development, Asmat, along with 20 other regencies and a city, are categorized as red zones.

According to the Asmat Health Agency, the regency only has 25 doctors that are stationed in 13 Puskesmas, out of a total 17 in the area. The regency has no pulmonologist.

“We’re pushing for strict implementation of COVID-19 health protocols in the hospitals and all Puskesmas in order to protect our healthcare workers, who are very limited in number,” said Purnomo.

Asmat Health Agency head Richard Mirino said having the virus spreading in the area was a risky situation for the regency due to its limited health facilities and healthcare workers as well as challenging geographic condition and its residents’ low awareness of living healthily.

Mirino referred to a measles outbreak in Asmat in 2018, which infected 670 children, 80 of whom died.

Papua covid-19 task force head Welliam Manderi said the provincial administration would issue a circular, ordering all parties to increase the implementation of health protocols at each regency and city’s gates.

Manderi admitted that the number of confirmed cases on a daily basis was still higher than the number of recovered cases over the past month.

• As of Monday, Papua had recorded a total of 8239 confirmed covid-19 cases, 4438 recovered cases and 117 deaths, reports The Jakarta Post.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has called for more action about the health crisis facing Asmat regency in Indonesian-ruled Papua.

The commission has blamed the Indonesian government “for this considerable loss of life”.

“The current efforts to address the problem are simply too little, too late,” it said in a statement from Hongkong.

So far, 68 children have died from measles and serious malnutrition in Asmat.

As reported by national media in Indonesia, the measles and malnutrition epidemic has affected 11 districts of Asmat regency: Swator, Aswi, Akat, Fayit, Pulau Tiga, Kolf Branza, Jetsy, Pantai Kasuari, Safan, Unirsarau, and Siret.

“Being the most remote areas of Asmat regency, victims in these districts have faced serious difficulties in obtaining access to medical facilities,” the AHRC statement said.

“Even in the regency’s capital, Agats, the Agats General Hospital (RSUD) is not equipped to deal with all the patients of measles and malnutrition.”

Patients in church
A category D hospital with limited facilities, paramedics and doctors, the hospital at present needed more medicine due to limited stock, and due to limited space, some patients have been hospitalised in the nearest church building, the AHRC statement said.

This circumstance showed how Papua had been left behind in terms of health facilities, infrastructure and development.

In Jakarta, Java island or other islands such as Sumatra and Bali, there were numerous public and private hospitals of type B and A, easy to access, the statement said.

Papua mostly has public hospitals of type D, especially in remote areas. There is a category A hospital in Jayapura city, the capital of Papua, but it is quite far from Agats and to reach Jayapura from Agats is not easy due to the lack of infrastructure.

“This situation clearly highlights how neither the central government of Indonesia in Jakarta, nor the local government in Papua province and Asmat regency have been able to develop an early warning system to prevent measles and malnutrition.”

The AHRC said it was concerned that the epidemic could easily spread to other places in Papua, particularly in remote areas lacking in health facilities.

Since Papua was integrated into the Republic of Indonesia in 1969, Papua has remained the poorest and least developed province.

Citizens’ rights
As a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Indonesia was obligated to:

• ensure its citizens’ rights to be free from hunger;
• address the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases; and
• create conditions which would assure medical attention to all.

Similarly, national laws such as Law No. 36 of 2009 guaranteed the right to equal health access for all citizens, the AHRC said.

The commission said it viewed the current lack of health access and facilities in Papua – and the deaths of 68 children – as a clear violation of the Indonesian government’s responsibility towards its citizens.

“By not developing equal health care in Papua, the government is to blame for this considerable loss of life. The current efforts to address the problem are simply too little, too late,” the statement said.

The AHRC said the government should immediately announce a health emergency in Papua and open access for medical aid, including international medical support. It should also allow access to the media to ensure accountability and to monitor the eradication of the epidemic.

The government also needed an affirmative action policy to boost development of health access in Papua.

Priority for Papua
The assistance from the central government should not merely be limited to eradicating disease in Asmat regency, but should ensure that remote areas in Papua received priority in development of health access, facilities and infrastructure, the statement said.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), the Minister of Health and Ombudsman of Republic of Indonesia, the House of Representatives, in particular Commission IX which concerns health, food and medicines, should take initiatives to monitor, evaluate and ensure the implementation of such policies, the AHRC said.

Local government should also open access for NGOs and media to monitor the recovery and development in remote areas.

The AHRC also urged the government to comprehensively ensure that all children, including pregnant mothers in Papua, particularly in Asmat regency, were given enough nutrition, food, and vaccines to prevent disease.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz