Skip to content | Change text size
 

Demountable medical clinic heading to Aceh

9 November 2005

A partnership between Monash and aid organisation International Outlook has resulted in the construction of a much-needed demountable medical clinic in Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Aceh province.

Aceh demountable clinic team (from left) Professor Gary Bouma, Mr Ian Staring, Mr Bas Koesasi and Mr John Baldock.

The head of Monash's School of Political and Social Inquiry, Professor Gary Bouma, Indonesian studies senior lecturer Mr Bas Koesasi, International Outlook executive director Mr John Baldock and builder Mr Ian Staring, owner of Grainway Pty Ltd, are facilitating the project.

The clinic, to be operated under the Gadjah Mada University Health Program, was donated by a consortium of religious groups led by Vietnamese Buddhists. It will be located at a site 40 kilometres inland from Meulaboh, the second largest city in Aceh.

Professor Bouma said Monash had a longstanding and effective association with Gadjah Mada University through research and exchange of students. "These contacts, plus the Indonesian university's close ties with local Aceh officials, meant this project could get off the ground quickly, while other projects in the region have stalled," Professor Bouma said.

"There were some 233,000 people dead or missing in Aceh alone following the tsunami, and there are currently no medical facilities in this region where several thousand people reside.

"The clinic is part of a program to rebuild for the future by providing equipment, facilities and people, and it's great that Monash is involved in such a project."

The demountable clinic, which is being built, fitted out and shipped to Aceh at a cost of $450,000 is being constructed by Mr Staring at his factory in Broadford over three months.

A building similar to that being erected in Meulaboh, Aceh.

The pre-fabricated, storm-resistant building is 210 square metres and includes five consulting rooms, an office, a seminar room and a reception area. The building, due to be completed in December, will be disassembled and shipped in five containers from Port Melbourne to Aceh.

The trek to the site will be undertaken either overland from Medan over 4000-metre-high mountains and damaged roads, or via barge to Medan, which has no wharf facilities, and then trucked to the site.

A team of volunteers from Aceh and Australia will then erect the building. The shipping containers will be converted for use as temporary student accommodation. The project should be completed early in January 2006.

Local health authorities in the Meulaboh region will staff the facility, and negotiations are under way with Melbourne hospitals to stock the clinic.

Mr Koesasi and Mr Staring are also involved in organising training for local people in building and construction trades, as part of an ongoing project.