Spread my dreams

Residents and visitors to Jakarta will be aware of the Busway saga. There are currently seven corridors in operation, although a lack of buses means that the frequency is well below the five minutes required to make any real impact on the Jakarta traffic. But despite all the challenges (several buses have burst into flames, and the busway lanes are taken over in the rush hours by other vehicles, causing delays to the buses), it was decided to go ahead with another three (or was it four?) corridors.

The new corridors were constructed at great expense, together with foot bridges (the busway lanes are in the centre of the road) and shelters. This infrastructure was completed almost on schedule a year ago. Only problem: someone apparently forgot to order the buses. These have still not arrived - I rather doubt they've even been ordered. So the return on that huge investment has been ... negative.

Now, perhaps because of rising complaints, or increasing embarrassment, or just because an election is coming, the governor has put his foot down. One of the new corridors will start operation on 13th February. Err, 20th February. If it can be made ready. Where will the buses come from? Moved from the other under-served corridors of course. So the service on those will further decrease, while the service on the new corridor will be around every 20 minutes. More people will get to see the buses, even if no more people actually get to ride them. The shelters and the buses will of course get even more crowded - and dangerous.

What has this to do with HIV? Well, just that it is symptomatic. I remember when I was a lad, butter was rationed in England; one pat per person per week. So we had to spread it real thin. This is the policy here: spread it thinner and thinner. Like busway corridors, new hospitals (or new wings in existing hospitals) have been built, but not occupied. Why? No staff. So spread the current man- (and women-) power more thinly. Oh, and the funding too.

Dr. Nurlan, commenting on the HATIP article on problems retaining healthcare workers, noted that in one hospital in Jakarta, qualified nurses are receiving a salary of Rp 1.5 million, well below $150, per month. A little in excess of the minimum wage for labourers here. Below what many household maids get. Not much left over after paying for their (probable) 3-4 hours travel every day (no busway!). The hospital is apparently confused why there is high turnover - and low morale.

The Ministry of Health planned to have 400 ART referral hospitals in operation by the end of 2008. How many now? Still only 150, less than planned for 2006. Why? Shortage of staff, inadequate training, and hospital management that would prefer to refer AIDS patients to other hospitals.

Indonesia is buying a submarine from Russia. Great idea! One submarine to cover the huge expanse of sea that is Indonesia. Spread it thinly, lads...

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Yeats

Babé