The Jakarta Post, January 10, 2002
Some 4,000 displaced by Poso conflict suffer mental disorders
Leo Wahyudi S, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The three-year-old sectarian conflict that has riven Poso, Central Sulawesi, has also
led to a major mental health crisis, according to government health officials.
An estimated 4,000 people, or 30 percent, of the 20,000 displaced people returning to
their homes there are reported to have various types of mental disorders with differing
degrees of seriousness, Health Minister Achmad Sujudi on Wednesday.
The fighting has claimed the lives of some 2,000 Muslims and Christians. In addition,
it has led to the destruction of 7,932 houses, 27 mosques, 55 churches and one
temple, according to official statistics.
Altogether, more than 150,000 locals have fled to other regencies and provinces since
the conflict erupted in December, 1998. The fighting has stopped -- for the moment at
least -- after the two warring parties signed a peace deal late last month.
"Most of the displaced people have been living in terror for three years, so it is
understandable that many have depression," Sujudi told reporters.
Sujudi was among a group of senior government officials from the Coordinating
Minister of People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla who visited the war-torn regency last week to
assess the situation and offer relief aid.
To cope with the situation, the government has delivered Rp 1.7 billion worth of
medicine and medical equipment to Poso hospital, along with ten community health
centers, and Tentena.
Sujudi said that refugees with mental health problems received treatment at Poso
hospital before being sent back home. He added that physical injuries received
priority, though.
The post-Malino recovery program, as the health operation program is called -- after
name of the peace accord, and the place where it was signed -- will take place over a
six-month period, officials said.
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