West Papua Health Office Asks Wondama Health Facilities To Report HIV-AIDS Data If They Want To Get ARV Drugs

Illustration of a campaign to prevent the spread of HIV-AIDS. (Antara-Irwansyah P)

JAKARTA - The Health Office (Dinkes) of West Papua Province has asked all health service facilities, both hospitals, and health centers in Teluk Wondama Regency, to proactively record and report data on HIV/AIDS cases.

"Friends of the Community Health Center, the Head of the public health center must be proactive to see the HIV program. The Director of the Hospital must also be proactive in looking at this section so that reports on ARV drugs and requests for reagents can be covered," said the HIV/AIDS Program Manager at the West Papua Health Office, Marlov Taribaba, when met at the Teluk Wondama Hospital Hall in Manggurai Wasior, quoted from Antara, Sunday 8 August.

He said that local government support, especially through the Health Service, was needed so that the handling of HIV/AIDS, including in terms of data preparation, could run optimally.

Data and case reporting should be carried out periodically to plan the drug needs of PLWHA or people living with HIV/AIDS, including the preparation of reagents for HIV testing.

This is because ARV (antiretroviral) drugs, as well as reagents for testing for HIV/AIDS, both from the Papua Health Office and the Ministry of Health are provided based on case data reported by each district/city.

If the district/city does not routinely report its data to the West Papua Provincial Health Office or to the Ministry of Health, the area concerned may not receive the ARV or reagent allotment.

This has happened to Teluk Wondama Regency because it did not report data on the development of HIV/AIDS cases.

As a result, the West Papua Health Office was forced to take ARV and reagents from other districts to be sent to Wondama.

"If today the service unit cannot report, then the local government must look at this section. Because we have taken the allocation of the public health center in other districts/cities to send to Wondama Regency," he said.

According to him, the data users are the AIDS Commission (KPA), the Social Service, and other agencies. "But the data for the HIV program and other diseases is from the Health Office," he said.

Head of the Data and TU Sub-Section at Teluk Wondama Hospital, Anna Merlin Tan, claimed that the hospital always recorded the number of HIV/AIDS cases handled by the hospital and reported it regularly every month.

"We have disease reporting officers, they always report monthly data on existing diseases," said Anna.

RSUD Teluk Wondama realizes that reporting the case data is important because it is directly related to the quota of medicines and reagents for HIV/AIDS by the Ministry of Health.

Melany A Rumawak, the manager of the HIV/AIDS program from the Wondama Bay KPA, hopes for real support from the local government and other relevant stakeholders in dealing with HIV/AIDS.

"Our hope is that all OPDs who are members of the KPA do not turn a blind eye. But help (units) in services, whether at public health center or hospitals. We are all together (helping) because this is our community," she said.