Japan Hands Over Medical Equipment Grant to Hospital in Papua

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Japanese Embassy in Indonesia held a handover ceremony for new medical equipment at Bunda Pengharapan Hospital, Merauke Regency, South Papua Province, on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. The assistance was disbursed through the Grassroots for Human Security Grant Assistance Program supported by the Government of Japan.

The program, dubbed “The Project for Provision of Medical Equipment in Merauke, Papua,” distributed new equipment for the hospital worth JPY8,550,468 (approximately Rp874 million) because Bunda Pengharapan Hospital faces a serious problem of shortage and aging medical equipment.

The handover ceremony was attended by Ohmichi Takuma, Second Secretary of the Japanese Embassy in Jakarta, and Yermias Paulus Ruben Ndiken, Regent of Merauke Regency. The project was inked in March 2022 by the Japanese government and Bunda Pengharapan Hospital.

Bunda Pengharapan Hospital was considered to have made a significant contribution to healthcare services in the Papua region, which has the highest poverty rate in Indonesia, treating around 6,000 inpatients and approximately 17,000 outpatients per year.

However, over the past few years, approximately 2,700 patients per year have been unable to receive adequate treatment in the obstetrics and gynecology as well as ophthalmology departments due to lacking and aging medical equipment. To receive proper treatment, patients have to travel to a hospital in Jayapura, approximately 700 km away from Merauke, requiring a considerable amount of time and transportation fees.

To address this situation, Japan, through the grant program in collaboration with Bunda Pengharapan Hospital, procured medical equipment such as ultrasound diagnostic equipment and ophthalmic surgical microscopes.

As a result of these improvements, Bunda Pengharapan Hospital is able to provide adequate treatment, eliminating the need for patients to travel long distances to other hospitals. In the past 2 years since the project, the diagnostic ultrasound system has been used for approximately 2,300 patients and the ophthalmic surgical microscopes for around 1,200 patients, thus making a greater contribution to healthcare services in the region.

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