Around 100 leprosy patients and recovered leprosy patients staged a protest at the South Sulawesi Regional Council (DPRD) and Social Services Agency about the sudden discontinuation of their monthly logistical aid.
The protesters came with cars and public transport, accompanied by the head of their community unit, Mustari Lotong.
The leprosy patients reside in the Makassar Leprosy Complex, with the total population estimated to be more than 400 people, excluding their family members.
The logistical support the patients received consisted of 15 kilograms of rice, and a food allowance of Rp 50.000 a month per person. These aids have been allocated by the South Sulawesi administration since 1991.
One of the protesters, Jamalludin Sarro, 37, said that the aid was usually distributed at the start of the month – even if it was distributed late it wouldn’t usually go past the 10th day of every month.
However, this month, the aid is still yet to be seen.
“We’ve always received the aid, and even when it’s late we usually receive it by the 10th of every month. But now it’s the 19th and we haven’t received any aid at all. We need to eat”, said Jamaludin, who happens to be one of the managers of the Leprosy Association (PERMATA), an NGO that specializes in educating the community about leprosy as well as providing counseling for leprosy patients to enable them to lead independent lives.
Jamaludin added, this logistical aid happened to be the primary food source for leprosy patients and recovered patients as they cannot fully integrate into the mainstream workforce because of their physical conditions. That is why the unusual delay of the aid is extremely distressing for them.
“Leprosy patients and recovered leprosy patients cannot lead normal lives as the community is not willing to accept them. Without the aid of the government, how are they supposed to survive? They couldn’t find proper paying jobs, and most of them have no other choice than to become beggars”, said Jamaludin.
An official from the South Sulawesi Social Services Agency, Syakhruddin, who spoke with the delegation from the protesters, stated that the logistical aid would still be distributed. The reason for the unusual delay was that the allocation had not yet been cleared.
“The South Sulawesi administration did not waive the aid. This year they allocated Rp 600 million from the city budget (APBD) to be spent on logistical aid for leprosy patients, and the responsibility to manage this fund was given to the Social Services Agency. However, we still have not received the funds. This is why we have not distributed the aid to the patients,” added Syakhruddin.
After hearing the explanation, the crowd dispersed without any incident. However, they hoped that the funds would clear soon so the aid could be distributed among the patients.
No comments:
Post a Comment