Indonesia (MNN) — Nearly four
years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, the marks left on Indonesia have finally
faded.
Billy Teninty with
International Aid
says one of their organization's strengths is in the health sector. They are able to link those in need with those
who can help, especially in areas of delicate and expensive medical equipment.
However, the system wasn't ready to handle the technology, and the disaster
compounded the difficulty.
In 2005, International Aid's President and CEO
Myles Fish noted that "after the tsunami, Indonesia's hospitals (were) completely destroyed. So they're in the process right
now of trying to either repair or replace the medical equipment in those
hospitals. But even after that is accomplished, they're left with a problem: that is. they never had anyone there on site who knew how to maintain or
repair medical equipment."
The government asked International Aid to help
construct a medical equipment repair and training facility in Banda
Aceh.
Now four years later, a Duke
University evaluation study reveals their help was invaluable to the recovery
of the medical system. "Hospitals were able to provide better services, faster services, and better medical care than they could not only since the
tsunami, but better services than they were able to do before the
tsunami."
Today, the team continues to
offer technical support in order to help
the nationals succeed. International Aid recently turned over the work on the
medical equipment service center to the provincial health office.
Although Muslims ran the
hospitals, the hope of the Gospel still shone through. Teninty says it's no secret who they
represent. "To go to that hospital, they knew we were Christians. To
minister to them, plus live in the community, was an excellent
opportunity — an opportunity that would not present itself, or had not presented
itself, before the earthquake and tsunami of December 26."
