Multi-trauma patients stay too long in emergemcy room

Photo : Antaranews

Multi-trauma patients remained in emergency rooms much longer than recommended before being taken to operating tables, South Korea`s health ministry said Tuesday, a development that could lower their chances of survival.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said its analysis of nearly 3,000 critically injured trauma patients in 2011 showed that they remained in emergency room care for an average of 242 minutes before being moved to operating rooms.

The ministry said the time patients remained under emergency room care was much longer than the golden hour, which in the medical profession is the one-hour window following a traumatic injury that is most optimal to begin treatment to increase the patients chance of survival.

"The death rate could go up" if critically injured trauma patients are not treated during the golden hour," said Jung Woo-jin, a deputy director handling emergency health care at the ministry.

The ministry said it has invested more than 10 billion won (US$9.4 million) in selecting and running 17 trauma centers across the country.

The issue of multi-trauma patients received media attention in 2011 when doctors treated the captain of a South Korean chemical carrier, who suffered serious gunshot wounds from Somali pirates during a rescue operation by a South Korean commando.

The vessel was freed and the captain was airlifted to South Korea for medical treatment.

Sources : Antaranews

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Indonesia surprised, Nippon Asahan Aluminium to seek arbitration

Nippon Asahan Aluminium (NAA) has sent a letter to the Indonesian government asking for the settlement of a dispute over the takeover of PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) through international arbitration.

In a press statement received by ANTARA here on Friday, the Ministry of Industry said the government received the letter on October 31, 2013 at 5.44pm notifying the government that the Japanese company wished to seek a settlement through the International Center for Settlement of Investment Dispute (ICSID).

"We received the letter unexpectedly and we accepted it to mean a change to the takeover mechanism that has, so far, been agreed to during negotiations," the statement said.

Following the notification, the government will need to change the compensation payment plan that it had prepared from a share transfer to an asset transfer, it said.

PT Inalum is a joint venture project between Japan and Indonesia based upon the Master Agreement for the Asahan Hydroelectric and Aluminium Project, which expired on October 31, 2013.

Following the expiration of the agreement, PT Inalum would receive from Indonesian government compensation based upon the agreement. 

In the negotiations, the two sides agreed to change the takeover mechanism from an asset to a share transfer mechanism and, therefore, Indonesia has prepared paying compensation based upon the share transfer mechanism until the end of the negotiations on October 31.

The statement says that before the letter was sent on October 29, 2013, the NAA had asked for an extension of the expiration of the master agreement because they needed time to seek an internal agreement from the NAA consortium.

It also explained that the company would continue operating without any stoppage, and all rights and obligations related to the operation of the power plant, smelter, supporting facilities, inventory, supply contract, sale contract and employees would continue to be carried out by PT Inalum. 

"The transfer of assets, including a power plant, a smelter and others, would fully be done in line with the master agreement," it said.

Sources : Antaranews

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President orders minister to seek clarifications over espionage issue

"The President has received the foreign minister`s report over the issue. The President asked the minister to communicate with the parties concerned and ask for their clarifications," Presidential Spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said."

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has urged Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa to ask for clarifications from concerned parties regarding wiretapping issues by foreign embassies in Indonesia.

"The President has received the foreign ministers report over the issue. The President asked the minister to communicate with the parties concerned and ask for their clarifications," Presidential Spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said here on Friday.

He said that in response to the news about the alleged tapping activities, the ministry of foreign affairs had conducted communications with parties concerned to seek official confirmation.

"If the report about the wiretapping is true, it should be regretted because a diplomatic relation should not be contaminated by a tapping activity," he said.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto said the Indonesian government had expressed its attitude with regard to the alleged espionage activities.

"If this is true, of course it would make us unhappy and we will say it is unprofessional," he said.

He stressed that wiretapping was an indecent act, yet the Indonesian government was still waiting for official explanations from the parties concerned.

The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Australian Ambassador Greg Moriarty to respond to charges of wiretapping facilities being found at the Australian embassy in Jakarta, as revealed by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Director of Information and Media Siti Sofia said here on Friday that the Foreign Ministry had summoned the Australian ambassador to Indonesia Greg Moriarty.

"The summons of the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Greg Moriarty took place this morning, as explained yesterday," stated Sofia.

The Foreign Ministry has demanded an explanation from the Australian government about the wiretapping facility that was built in the embassy building in Jakarta and at the Consulate General in Denpasar.

News of the wiretapping facilities broke only one day after the Sydney Morning Herald published a report identifying similar facilities at the US Embassy in Jakarta.

The Foreign Ministry holds that if the Sydney Morning Heralds reports are accurate, then these actions of espionage by the Australian government cannot be justified.

Earlier, the Foreign Ministry had issued a press release noting its demands for an explanation of the news published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Oct. 31, 2013 regarding the existence and use of wiretapping facilities at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and other countries in the region.

As neighbors and friends, the actions reported by the Sidney Morning Herald do not reflect the spirit of friendly relations that have been established and cannot be accepted by the Government of Indonesia.

Sources : Antaranews

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Rapid population growth to affect basic necessities

Indonesias rapid population growth poses a great challenge to the country as it works to provide the populations basic necessities, including clothing, foods and shelter, a superior education and proper health services. 

Further, rapid population growth may slow national development, and therefore the government must seriously address this problem by putting in place family planning programs.

The population in a country is the most basic asset needed to implement development, but uncontrolled population growth might become an obstacle to assuring economic growth.

"A shockingly large population that isnt offset by adequately high-quality human resources could create another, more serious, problem," National Family Planning and Population Board (BKKBN) Chief Fasli Jalal said here on Thursday.

Indonesias population boom is becoming increasingly alarming because it is not balanced by adequate human resources, noted Fasli. 

The total population in Indonesia was last recorded at 245.9 million in 2012, but Jalal said that in 2013 it is projected to reach 250 million, with a growth rate of 1.49 percent per year, or an increase of four to five million people.

"This means 10 thousand babies are born every day," Jalal stated, adding that the quality of Indonesian human resources remains low, as indicated by the Indonesian Human Development Index, which ranks Indonesia 124 of 182 countries. 

He explained that Indonesia is currently the worlds fourth most populous country, after China, India, and the United States, though its population is expected to jump to 321 million by 2025.

Today, the population of Indonesia represents 3.51 percent of the worlds total population, which arguably means that one in every 29 people on earth is a resident of Indonesia. 

This is a huge figure and, therefore, the government should pay serious attention to this problem so the population does not drastically increase.

Besides this, Jalal added, the uneven distribution of the population is also a concern, with 58 percent of the population living on Java Island, even though it only accounts for seven percent of the total area of the country.

Uncontrolled population growth will automatically become a burden, and therefore the family planning program should become one of the pillars of the nation's development policy in the population field. 

During an event on World Contraception Day in September 2013, Vice President Boediono noted that the family planning program has been marginalized for the sake of achieving short-term interests during the reform era. 

Therefore, the vice president asked all stakeholders to give priority to the family planning program in an effort to achieve the ideal demographic target envisioned by the nation.

He said the family planning program was a multidimensional plan run jointly by the central government, the regional administrations and relevant agencies.

Meanwhile, BKKBN spokesperson Ambar Rahayu admitted that the national family planning program has experienced a change following the weakening of the governments resolve to maintain it.

"The family planning program was once an integral part of the national development program, but now it is no longer a priority because short-term programs, other than family planning, have become a top priority for regional governments," Ambar said here on Thursday.

She pointed out that the national family planning and population program had stagnated over the past 10 years and shown no improvements in maintaining population targets.

"The total fertility rate remained at 2.6 percent, while the use of modern contraception edged up slowly by 0.5 percent in the past five years, from 57.4 percent in 2007 to 57.9 percent in 2012," she noted.

Further, Ambar said the stagnant condition of the population and family planning program had impacted areas where its operational activities were on the decline.

Therefore, Coordinating Minister for Peoples Welfare Agung Laksono expressed hope that the program would continue to be properly managed to prevent its continued stagnation.

"The family planning and population program has been stagnant over the past 10 years and, therefore, we have to resolve this situation as part of our efforts to suppress the population growth rate," Laksono remarked here on Thursday.

"It is necessary to revitalize the program as soon as possible because the results of the Indonesian health and demographic survey in 2012 (SDKI 2012) indicated that the number of people who failed to receive family planning services was very high, and the medium-term development target was far from being met," he went on.

Laksono said the program should be revitalized by providing more intensive family planning information to the public.

The minister noted that the current population growth rate in Indonesia was still very high and the number of parents having more than two children remains large.

He has also asked regional governments to set a higher priority for population and family planning programs.

"Regional governments should strengthen their commitment to improving the population and family planning program," Laksono said here on Thursday.

Many regional governments prefer short term programs, but ignore discussing population and family planning programs as a strategic issue during regional election campaigns, said Laksono.

"The regional government fails to include the population and family planning program in the Regional Midterm Development Program (RPJMD). Consequently, the program has rarely been properly supported using regional funds," he noted.

Laksono expressed his hope that the national family planning and population program would continue to be well-managed so it does not become stagnant in the future. 

Therefore, the National Family Planning and Population Board has launched two social media accounts to promote the "Generation With Plan" (GenRe) program to young people.

The GenRe program aims to provide information to young people about how to carefully plan their lives. The program also calls on young people to contribute to population control programs by living healthy lives and avoiding causal sexual encounters.

The use of social media to promote these program is important, considering that most young Indonesians have social media accounts.

Sources : Antaranews

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Indonesia must remain independent to face free market

Indonesia should remain independent in the face of the expanding free market, particularly after the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community 2015 (AEC 2015), according to a legislator.

"Indonesia will become part of AEC 2015, and that means the country will be open to the markets of all ASEAN member states," a member of House of Representatives Commission III, Bambang Soesatyo, said here on Saturday.

Therefore, he noted that Indonesia must be led by a leader who is independent and focused on building the nations economy.

"If the leader who is elected in the upcoming 2014 election is not smart in dealing with the ASEAN Economic Integration, then more than 200 million Indonesian people will only remain consumers," Bambang said.

That means, he added, that the 2014 election is important and very strategic for the future of the nation. 

Meanwhile, officials of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) have asked the government to remain observant and intensively consult with the business community regarding free market agreements that involve Indonesia.

"With a lot of economic challenges in relation to the Free Trade Agreement, the business players, together with the government, should seek to determine what parts of the economy need to be protected," Kadin deputy chairman for trade and international relations, Chris Kanter, said here on Friday.

Further, Kanter noted that the government should not shut itself off from business sectors that need foreign investment.

According to Indonesian Indigenous Entrepreneurs Association (HIPPI) Central Executive Board Chairperson Suryani Motik, the implementation of AEC 2015 will bring Indonesias economy to a crossroads.

"On one side, the ASEAN Economic Community will bring up concerns among entrepreneurs, while on the other side it will provide an opportunity for them," Suryani said.

Sources : Antaranews

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Iran optimistic about IAEA talks

Iran is optimistic about the outcome of the fresh round of talks with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Tuesday.

"Iran has always stressed cooperation with the IAEA and has done its utmost for transparency and removing the ambiguities" on the nuclear issue, Afkham told reporters in her weekly press briefing.

Also, under the new administration, Iran is pursuing a "new approach" in its interaction and cooperation with the IAEA, said the spokeswoman.

"Iran hopes the new approach facilitates Iran and the IAEA`s cooperation," she said, adding that the approach is expected to " answer (the IAEA`s) questions, remove the ambiguities, and lead to further cooperation."

The nuclear agency and Iran continued talks for a second day on Tuesday on Tehran`s disputed nuclear program.

The talks centering an inspection framework document began on Monday afternoon after the meeting between Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and the agency`s Chief Yukiya Amano.

Last week, Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali-Akbar Salehi said his country was prepared to voluntarily cooperate with the IAEA over the "outstanding issues" and "the issues raised about possible military dimension to its nuclear program, although the matter is outside the purview of the UN agency."

On Sept. 27, Iran expressed its willingness to reach an agreement with the IAEA on nuclear inspection after their talks in Vienna.

The IAEA has held 12 rounds of meetings with Iran since 2011 without making any progress in the inspection framework.

One of the IAEA`s concerns is that Iran`s Parchin military site is capable of nuclear weapon-grade experiments. Iran has previously refused to grant access to the site unless an agreement has been reached on a "structured approach."

Iran is suspected by the IAEA of conducting possible experiments on developing nuclear weapons, which is firmly denied by Tehran.

Sources : Middle East

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