High mortality rate among newly born babies, malaria and HIV are some of the many problems which we face in Papua. There is an increasing need for nuns, doctors and nurses in Papua. Catholic missionaries opened health clinics to serve the local people. Most of them are run by nuns. The increasing complexity of the diseases in Papua needs medical workers who have knowledge and expertise especially those from medical faculties of universities or nursing academies.
I see that dioceses in Papua have known about these needs. And the Papuan people must not depend on medical workers from outside of the island. The government and churches here must think about the importance of producing doctors and nurses locally. It means that they have to set aside a lot of money on setting up a medical faculty at least at two state owned universities in Manokwari and Jayapura of Papua. If this issue is not tackled immediately, Papua or West Papua provinces will always be lack of doctors.
The investment which the government will spend for opening the medical faculties is high but given the current health problems, it will be one of the best decisions for the sake of Papuan alone.
Papua is the second largest island in the world after Greenland. It is located north of Australia and it is the eastern most territory of Indonesia. Western missionaries came to Papua as early as 1855 introducing Christianity, opening this island to modern western civilization.
Today the eastern half belongs to Papua New Guinea and the western half belongs to Indonesia under the West Papua and Papua provinces.
Many denominations of Christianity operate in Papua. Besides working on religious matters, these churches run schools, polyclinics, hospitals, and missionary airlines that connect remote mountainous regions with towns along the coastal region.
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