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Tangerang complains about leprosy hospital, 5 prisons
The Tangerang municipal administration has urged the central government to relocate the Sitanala Hospital for leprosy patients as well as five special prisons that it says have tarnished the cityâs image
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he Tangerang municipal administration has urged the central government to relocate the Sitanala Hospital for leprosy patients as well as five special prisons that it says have tarnished the city's image.
In a meeting with Ali Taher and Inas Nasrullah Zubir, legislators from the National Mandate Party (PAN) and Hanura Party, respectively, Tangerang mayor Arief R. Wismansyah said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the Health Ministry should review the special hospital's operations following the decreasing number of leprosy cases in the city.
He said the central government should transform the special hospital into a general hospital to serve the wider public because leprosy patients have become rare in the city and those recovering from the disease have declined to return to their homes in fear they would be alienated in their own environment.
'A number of ex-leprosy patients have been recruited as road sweepers but another group has gone down to the streets and traffic lights to become beggars and this has raised a new problem for the city administration,' he said.
He explained that the city administration would be able to improve its health-care services for the public under the National Health Program if the special hospital was transformed into a general hospital.
He said his predecessor Wahidin Halim had previously proposed the relocation of the five special prisons ' for male and female adults, adolescent inmates, as well as male and female children ' to other regions because it was found they had contributed to a negative image of the city. (rms)(+++)
