Health services for thousands of Indonesians require urgent support in the wake of the 30 September earthquakes that struck West Sumatra Province. World Health Organization Director-General Dr Margaret Chan on 19 November visited health facilities devastated by the earthquake, assessing first-hand health needs and efforts to restore life-saving health care services.
The two earthquakes measured 7.6 and 6.2 magnitude, with the coastal city of Padang - home to 900 000 people - most affected. Over 1100 people were killed, around 3500 injured and more than 360 health facilities damaged or destroyed. 1.2 million people live in the three worst affected districts of West Sumatra.
"It is really sad to see that health centres and hospitals collapse in times of natural disasters, a time when they are most needed to provide services to people who are injured and people that have suffered," Dr Chan said during her visit, which included a tour of the Mohammed Djamil Hospital, the main health facility in Padang, which was severely damaged by the earthquakes.
Since the earthquake hit, WHO and Health Cluster partners have been working closely with Indonesian authorities, sending trained health staff and medicines to help minimize public health threats, succeeding in preventing any disease epidemics and kick-starting restoration of destroyed health services, particularly primary health care.
"It is reassuring for me to see the very prompt response done by the government of Indonesia at the three levels of government - the district, the province and the central level," Dr Chan said. "Their response was very prompt and was supported by many development partners, including UN agencies and many countries who came from afar to provide support in solidarity."
WHO's South-East Asian regional office provided funds for mobile clinics and restarting health services, while the Norwegian government's support resulted in surgical equipment being provided to treat people with injuries and water treatment plants for use in health facilities.
The urgent need today is to ensure hospitals, clinics and other affected health services are fully restored to the level they were before the earthquakes, with a focus on making health facilities more resilient and able to withstand possible future emergencies.
"We are already talking about plans for the reconstruction and retrofitting of essential health facilities. I would like to say once more that it is important for us to pay attention to build strong, robust health facilities," Dr Chan said. "They are important to provide good healthcare to the community, especially in times of crisis. I would like to again appeal to partners, governments that this kind of investment in health facilities will pay good dividends on your investment. The people will thank you for what you have done to protect their health."
WHO's World Health Day campaign for 2009 is "Save lives. Make hospitals safe in emergencies," with the aim to highlight the critical need to ensure hospitals, clinics and other health facilities can withstand natural disasters, including earthquakes, and provide life-saving services in their wake.
The UN Central Emergency Response Fund this week provided funding to WHO for a project to strengthen the health sector in the wake of the earthquake. This will help assess the safety of health facilities, deliver medical supplies, ensure specialized care for 800 people who sustained major injuries and require rehabilitation, strengthen disease control, improve health services for mothers and children, and deliver mental and psychosocial health support.
For more information, please contact:
Paul Garwood, Communication Officer
garwoodp@who.int
+41 79 475 55 46
