Governor says islanders need hospitals
Kupang (ANTARA News) - East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Governor Frans Lebu Raya appealed to Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih here on Saturday to consider establishing hospitals on the islands in the region.
The hospitals are very important for people living on the islands with regard to getting health service, he said at the handing over of aid in the form of three cars to the province.
"NTT has 566 islands and many of them are inhabited. They always have difficulties getting access to health service especially during the rainy season when the only transportation means in the sea available cannot operate," he said.
He said hospitals need not be built on all islands but only on the the ones that have large popoulation or on those that could be reached by people from other islands.
"Many pregnant mothers and young children have died because they had no access to health service. They would go to a hospital in town but they failed because of a sea transportation problem," he said.
In view of that he said it was necessary for all to think of how to build hospitals on islands as a solution to reduce the death rate of mothers and children in the province.
Regarding the implementation of the "village preparedness" program the governor said that it had not yet run optimally due people`s poor knowledge about the importance of the program.
He said it would take time for the local government to improve their understanding on the importance of supporting the program.
"The village preparedness program has to be promoted. Indeed time would be needed to improve the people`s understanding about it but the government remains committed to continuing to motivate the people," he said. (*)
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PubDate: 11/29/09 04:49
