Irene Sokoy's Tragic Death Is Proof Of Systematic Failure Of Health Services In Papua

JAKARTA - Pregnant woman Irene Sokoy died with her baby due to delays in handling and rejection of the hospital. The incident that happened to this 31-year-old mother was a systemic failure that could actually be prevented.

It is tragic what happened to Irene Sokoy, a pregnant woman and her future baby in Jayapura Regency, Papua. During the delivery process, Irene was allegedly ignored by a number of hospitals for various reasons.

The unpleasant treatment that Irene received when she was about to give birth to her third child was told by Abraham Kabey, his father-in-law.

Irene was initially taken to Yowari Hospital, Sentani, Jayapura Regency, Sunday (16/11/2025) at around 13.00 WIT. From her residence in Sanau Sentani, Irene traveled about 10 kilometers to Yowari Hospital.

After waiting for the delivery process, on Monday morning, at around 01.00 WIT, Irene's condition began to be critical. The condition of the baby in the womb is said to have a weight above normal, so delivery must be carried out with surgery.

However, at the same time they received news that doctors for surgery were not available. This situation angered the family, and they asked that patients be immediately referred to other hospitals.

Using an automatic car and accompanied by two medical personnel from Yowari Hospital, Monday morning, the family took the patient to a hospital in Jayapura City, about 30 kilometers away. They visited two hospitals, namely Dian Harapan Hospital and Abepura Hospital. But Irene was again rejected by the two hospitals on the grounds that they had limited medical personnel and rooms.

From there, the family took the patient to Bhayangkara Hospital, Abepura District, about 4 kilometers away. But Irene, who is a class 3 BPJS Health patient, ran out of rooms for her class.

At that time, the hospital informed that only VIP rooms were available. This means that patients must become general patients by paying for operating costs. The hospital asked for a down payment of Rp. 4 million, but at that time the family brought less than the nominal required.

"We beg, to save lives first, our child is critical in an ambulance. We will definitely pay off later. They just check in the car, don't give me a ride," said Abraham.

The family was increasingly panicked and involved in a debate with the hospital. Due to the increasingly critical condition of the patient in the car, they decided to take him to Dok II Hospital, North Jayapura District.

On the way, Irene kept complaining of pain. He then leaned on Ivan Ibo, his younger brother, before finally losing consciousness. The family decided to take Irene back to Bhayangkara Hospital and there it was stated that she had died.

This incident is a broad concern. However, in Papua there, the hospital seemed to throw each other away when asked who should be responsible.

Director of Yowari Hospital Maryen Braweri said, when the patient had to perform caesarean surgery, there was no obstetrician at the hospital because he was outside Jayapura.

Meanwhile, to reporters, Head of Bhayangkara Jayapura Hospital Adjunct Senior Commissioner Rommy Sebastian said his party was carrying out procedures for patient recipients. On the other hand, his party could not do much because the room for class 3 BPJS patients was limited.

Papua Governor Mathius Fakhiri regretted Irene's incident. He emphasized that all hospitals and health centers in nine regencies/cities in Papua should not refuse patients for any reason.

"Once again, I remind all hospitals, health centers, and medical personnel not to refuse patients for any reason, including the emergency," he said.

Health expert Dicky Budiman has run out of words over what happened to Irene Sokoy in Papua. Dicky, who was active in Papua in 2004 to strengthen health development, assessed that health services there should be better.

This is a systemic failure that leads to maternal and baby deaths that are very likely to be prevented. So when you talk about who can fix this, fix this, yes, especially from the central, then provincial and district or city levels," said the health policy lecturer at Griffith University Australia.

The Papuan Legal Aid Institute (LBH) also condemned the tragedy experienced by Irene Sokoy. They considered this incident a serious human rights violation and systemic failure of health services in Papua.

The Director of LBH Papuasama Ngoranmele said that this tragedy was not just an operational negligence, but evidence of the failure of the provincial health service system in protecting the lives of the people who were most vulnerable.

The death of Irene Sokoy and her baby is a serious violation of the right to life guaranteed by the constitution. This also shows that the mandate of Papua's Special Autonomy (Otsus) is just empty words, "he said.

LBH Papua also highlighted the failure of the implementation of the Papua Special Autonomy Law which authorized the Provincial Government to manage health services independently, especially for regions that were difficult to reach.

"The Special Autonomy budget is not used optimally, the system being built is not functioning, and the people who need it the most are left behind," said God.

The humanitarian tragedy that has been repeated by Papuans is an irony in the midst of the fact that Papua has received a flow of special autonomy funds of up to trillions of rupiah. Citing a number of sources, Papua's 2025 special autonomy fund is a total of more than IDR 6.69 trillion, but the allocation for Papua Province itself is around IDR 899.3 billion, consisting of general funds, funds that have been determined for use, and additional infrastructure funds.

This fund has been cut by around Rp. 19 billion compared to the previous year. The special autonomy fund is allocated to priority programs such as education, health, infrastructure, and economic empowerment of indigenous Papuans.