Medical staff from International Medical
Corps are on their way to the Molucca Islands to implement an emergency
medical care program in the northern region, where sectarian violence has
forced thousands to flee their homes.
The conflict has escalated in recent
weeks, forcing Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid on Monday to declare
a state of emergency.
IMC will provide basic health care services to the area's most vulnerable residents, including the injured, women, children and the elderly. IMC will base its operation in the town of Manado in the Halmahera region, and will coordinate three field offices.
"The steady influx of displaced persons, combined with the unstable political climate, creates all the conditions for a humanitarian disaster," said IMC President and CEO Nancy Aossey. "By providing care to people from both sides of the conflict, IMC can help prevent that from happening."
IMC will focus on disease control and treatment, including malaria, diarrhea, skin disease and upper respiratory track infections(ailments commonly found in internal refugee camps where sanitation is poor and over-crowding is common. IMC expects to serve approximately 230,000 people.
"Most of the health care facilities in the Moluccas have been torched and looted," Aossey said. "There is only one local doctor to tend to some 80,000 people in one of the areas IMC is setting up operations. Clearly, the need for our services is immediate and profound."
Founded in 1984, IMC is a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization dedicated to providing emergency medical relief and long-term training to local populations where war, civil strife and other crises have crippled health care systems. IMC has served in 32 countries in four continents. In addition to the Moluccas, other current programs include those in East Timor, Ingushetia, Kosovo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Pakistan.
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