A medical recipe for living together

Bangkok - In spite of the historical mistrust between state agencies and the Malay Muslim community in the deep South, medical personnel say they believe they have formulated a strategy for the two sides to coexist in peace and harmony.

Dr Supat Hasuwankit said the community had put its findings in writing so other agencies could study it in the hope a new-found friendship could lead to permanent peace in the restive region where more than 2,700 have been killed since January 2004.

Although there have been attacks on a handful of rural clinics, the frequency did not suggest the incidents were part of a major trend or development on the part of the insurgents, he said.

Supat, a director of Chana Hospital in Songkhla, said the hospital continued to enjoy some form of immunity from the militants.

He said the Rural Doctors Society had embarked on a book project to study how medical staff at community hospitals in the deep South worked and to record what had been taking place at these medical facilities.

"I have collected the information for about a year and found it so valuable. It‘s enough to be developed into a comparative course of study," Supat said.

The book was recently launched and was being distributed within the medical community and other government agencies.

The book highlights a number of interviews with local physicians who talk about the difficulties of working in such an environment.

"We don‘t have any security guards and our fences are in a poor condition," said Dr Zungifli Yusoh, the director of Mai Kaen Hospital in Pattani province. "But our hospital is protected by the love and trust of the locals."

Zungifli has worked at the hospital since he graduated from the Prince of Songkhla University in 1992.

Over the past 15 years, he had earned the respect of locals, because not only has he fulfilled his duties as a doctor, he has also become a member of their community.

"I live like everyone here," Zungifli said. "The locals see the hospital as part of their community and they help take care of it."

Other government agencies, including public schools, have consistently come under arson attacks by insurgents and personnel singled out for murder.

In the southern province of Yala, Raman Hospital director Dr Rozali Pattayabut stressed the need for all medical personnel under his supervision understand the local culture and the Malay language.

"I am proud that the locals come to us when they need treatment, instead of going to the provincial hospital like before," Rozali said.

As a native of this Malay-speaking region, Rozali chose to work at the Raman Hospital since he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, in 1986. "We are service-minded people and respect the local culture."

According to Rozali, Muslim women prefer to have midwives deliver their babies. So, instead of fighting against this tradition, he got his people to join them by getting to know the community‘s midwives and provide medical equipment.

"If anything wrong happens during childbirth, the midwives readily transfer the patient to the hospital," Rozali explained.

Although the hospitals continue to be off the insurgents‘ radar screen, Rozali said no one can afford to be complacent.

Like other government installations, Bannang Sata Hospital, located in one of Yala‘s violent prone red zone, has decided to put up barbed wire fences, increased the lighting outside and installed a closed-circuit camera. No one there, it seems, are taking any chances.

Source: www.nationmultimedia.com (3 Desember 2007)
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