West Jakarta Provides Medical Check Up for Pregnant Refugees

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Kalideres public health center in West Jakarta has provided a free medical checkup for foreign refugees who are pregnant and temporarily sheltered at the West Jakarta Military Command. The health checkup targeted pregnant mothers, in addition to infants and the elderly, Head of the health center Linda Lidya said here Monday.

"We have conducted medical checkups since last Thursday," she said, adding that they also provide supplementary food for pregnant mothers and toddlers.

Some 1,100 foreign refugees were currently being accommodated in West Jakarta.

Most of the refugees are from Somalia, Sudan, and Afghanistan. The Jakarta Social Affairs Office has temporarily provided food to them.

Earlier in the day, West Jakarta Vice Mayor Muhammad Zen inspected the shelter and called on the local health center to pay more attention to pregnant mothers, infants, toddlers and the elderly.

Up to Monday, the number of refugees that availed free medical service by the health center had reached 500 people.

Yesterday we had 90 patients (of refugees), and on Saturday, more than 200. The day after, more than 200 people, she said.

The health center has also provided psychological counseling for refugees, according to Linda.

Refugees and asylum seekers thronged a street in front of Ravindo Building at Jalan Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta, on Thursday, July 11, demanding that the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugee (UNHCR) representative meet them, ANTARA reported.

Dozens of refugees, of both genders and different age groups, crammed the street brandishing placards that bore the words "I am a refugee, I am a human too."

Eventually, some officers of the UNHCR, accompanied by an interpreter, turned up and requested them to select a representative for communication and correspondence while calling on the rest to vacate the building premises at the earliest.

However, the refugees declined to send a representative and instead insisted that the officers come and meet them, as they were keen to demand their rights as refugees, who had been living in Indonesia for years.

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