Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said this during a meeting with the Presidium of Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C) at his office in Jakarta Thursday. The humanitarian NGO has been playing an active role in coordinating and leading the construction project of the Indonesian hospital, as part of the capacity-building assistance from Indonesia to people in Rakhine State.
In addition to MER-C, another two civil organizations namely the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) and the Council of Buddhist Communities (Walubi), are also part of the project.
The construction process of the hospital which took two years to complete involved both Muslim and Buddhist workers. It was done to anticipate a potential of conflict between religious believers in Myanmar, as well as to support economic welfare for the people living in Rakhine State, regardless of their religions, according to the Chair of the MER-C Presidium, Dr. Sarbini Abdul Murad.
"We are recruiting workers from both Muslim and Buddhist communities, so from the beginning we encouraged them to interact and cooperate in the process of building this hospital," Murad told journalists at the Vice Presidential Office.
Located around 160 kilometers from Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, the type C hospital consists of two floors with an area of 2,300 square meters. It has several facilities, including the operating room, evacuation room and the mortuary.
The hospital will be officially handed over by the Government of Indonesia to the Government of Myanmar on December 10, 2019. Vice President Ma'ruf Amin is expected to be present at the hand-over ceremony.
In addition to assisting in the construction process, Indonesia is also providing training for medical personnel who will work in the hospital.
Doctors and medical resources from Myanmar will be trained at the Kramat Jati Police Hospital and Gatot Subroto Army Hospital to gain knowledge and experience from their Indonesian counterparts.
"(We hope) they can see the doctors in those two hospitals working in a professional manner, without discriminating against any status or religion," Murad said. (INE).
