Poor Tangerang Prison Inmates, Have Trouble Sleeping And Often Remember The Fire Incident

Assistance provided by the Tangerang City Health Office to prisoners in Class 1 Tangerang prison after the fire incident. ANTARA/dok.Tangerang Health Office

JAKARTA - Many inmates at the Class 1 Penitentiary Tangerang, Banten, experience anxiety and difficulty sleeping. This is all due to the fire incident in block C which has killed 48 people so far.

"Dozens of psychiatrists and psychologists have been dispatched. They are doing psychiatric therapy and medical therapy. So far, no one has gone up to the referral stage," said Head of Medical and Nursing Services, Tangerang City Hospital, Dr. Amir Ali in his statement, Thursday, September 16.

The therapy process is carried out on a person-to-person basis. He admitted that only about 83 prisoners were treated.

"This number will continue to grow. If trauma healing like this is not carried out, it is possible that inmates may experience deeper anxiety or deep depression," he explained.

After the four days of trauma healing is complete, routine therapy will be carried out by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights doctors. "We, the Health Office and the RSUD are prepared to prepare medicines and accept prisoners who need more in-depth referral handling," said Dr. Amir.

Head of P2P Division, Tangerang City Health Office, Dr. Indri Bevy, revealed that the trauma healing program was held from Tuesday (14/9) to Friday (17/9) together with the Tangerang City Hospital and the Indonesian Psychologist Association (HIMPSI). Trauma Healing is currently focused on the inmates, and will be continued to the officers on duty at the time of the incident.

He explained, since the second day of the fire incident, the Health Office team had gone down to approach, calm and explore the extent of the psychological or mental disorders suffered by the survivors in Block C. Likewise with those in the neighboring block who only heard or saw the process of the incident. .

"Before the inmates met the doctor, the Health Office had distributed a questionnaire with 29 question points. From the results, it was determined that they needed treatment from a psychiatrist or psychologist with various trauma statuses," he said.

Meanwhile, the drug convict with the initials H admitted that after the incident he was quite traumatized. Moreover, one of the victims who died was also a friend.

"Maybe because I thought about him and remembered him, so I felt he came to me. But now, what I feel is more like a busy atmosphere, I don't want to be lonely. So I need health services like this so I know my psyche, " he said.