Lack of transport limits effectiveness of healthcare workers in East Flores

In a discussion about the health of mothers and babies hosted by Health for All in Muleng Village, Twanging Bunga District, East Flores, the women of the village revealed that they get limited information about, and access to, healthcare services. There are several reasons for this, the most important of which is that health services cost a lot of money. This leads to a lack of health information and, in addition, the number of health workers is not sufficient for the area.

Villagers meeting.

The women said that they do get visits from a health worker riding a Health for All motorcycle. However that is not enough to improve the general health of Muleng because the area covered by the Public Health Centre at Laka Subdistrict is quite wide. The health workers need to ration their time, otherwise some other parts of the area they cover would not get any visits. A participant of the discussion, Maria Uba Dorian, said: 'It is true that there are three staff working at the Public Health Centre at Laka Subdistrict. They are Dani, who got a motorcycle from Health for All, and two woman workers. These two have no motorcycles so they work in the Health Centre while Dani, with his motorcycle, goes to the villages to carry out healthcare work.'

The participants of the discussion hope that the other two workers will also get motorcycles, either from Health for All or from another organisation, so that people in all the outlying villages (including Muleng) get better, more regular, access to health services. The women in Muleng Village said that many people go to the Shaman to get native healing. They can only get access to regular health services when the Health for All rider visits Muleng. They do not go to the Health Centre because it takes so long to get there, and because the Health Centre is so far away that they spend more money getting there than it would cost to pay a visiting healthcare worker.

Elisabet Ebong, another participant, explained: 'When Dani Kerans comes to Muleng on his Health for All motorcycle we make use the health service. Otherwise we have no alternative but to go to the Shaman'.

Dani Kerans explained 'It is difficult to give a regular service'. As the Head of the Sub Public Health Service Centre, Dani Kerans has many responsibilities. He manages the delivery of healthcare services to people living far away from the health facility, such as the people living at Muleng, Lewobunga and many other villages in the working area of Sub Health Service Centre Laka.

Dani says that his work is made easier because his Health for All motorcycle helps him to do his job. However the Health for All staff, Mans and Eman, can see that he has had some problems improving the health condition of the people in his working area. He has two women staff, but they can not go by themselves to the villages, which are quite far from the Health Centre. They have no means of transportation and cannot use the regular motorcycle type provided by HfA.

Therefore, Dani has to be careful and manage his time so that he can do his office work as well as giving health services to the people in rural areas. Though he cannot frequently visit all of the villages because of the time constraints, Dani is grateful for the motorcycle from Health for All because it makes his job so much easier. 'Outlying villages get only infrequent visits from me, because it is only me who has a motorcycle. If the other two workers also had motorcycles, healthcare workers could visit more frequently and the whole area could be covered effectively. At the moment if the women health workers need to go to the villages, they must get a lift with me. '.

Healthcare worker at local village