Crisis center to officially be part of RSCM

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/06/20/crisis-center-officially-be-part-rscm.html


Crisis center to officially be part of RSCM

Prodita Sabarini , The Jakarta Post , JAKARTA | Sat, 06/20/2009 11:46 AM | City

Entering its ninth year, an independent crisis center located at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) in Central Jakarta, will officially be part of the state-run hospital, ending threats of having to close down the center due to funding difficulties, the center’s head said Thursday.

Mutia Prayanti, head of the PKT-RSCM, said the administrative and budgeting preparation for the center to join with RSCM would be completed in another two months.

The 24-hour crisis center, located on the second floor of the hospital’s emergency room, has been struggling to finance its operations in the last few years. The city administration had exempted women and children, who were victims of domestic abuse, from any fees, leaving the center to seek funds independently for its operational costs.

The center, initiated by a working group of representatives from the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) and organizations calling for an end to violence against women, the Jakarta Police and RSCM, initially received funding from the UN Development Fund for Women.

After the UN organization ceased its funding, the center received a shaky source of income from the women’s empowerment ministry, the city administration and other donors, with staff once deprived of their pay for three months.

In 2008, the center received a mere Rp 50 million from the ministry for its operational costs. Mutia said the amount was not enough to fund a center that operated 24 hours for seven days a week.

The center has five doctors, five psychologists and five social workers. Since it opened, it has handled 5,180 cases, 2,072 of them violence against women and 3,108 of them violence against children.
Cases of child molestation made up most of the cases, around 48.8 percent of the total. Domestic violence was second with 28 percent, child rape 10.8 percent, and child beating 2.2 percent.