Delayed for years
September 12, 2011
The one-stop crisis centre at Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital in Thimphu has remained as a sign board for more than three years now.
Bhutan’s first one-stop crisis centre was supposed to have become operational in 2008.
Currently, a victim of domestic violence has to go to different places to seek medical services, legal counselling, social support, and security protection. The one-stop crisis centre is supposed to put all these services under one roof.
“Somehow, we couldn’t start the centre,” said the forensic expert at the hospital, Dr Pakila Dukpa. “We have had two stakeholders’ meetings but there has been no consensus and no endowment.”
He added that although there is support from the Ministry of Health and National Commission for Women and Children (NCWC), there is no inter-sectoral consensus.
NCWC has helped the centre buy equipment and furniture and conduct study tours.
The centre is waiting for a policy framework which will define the roles and responsibilities of the agencies. Until the framework is finalized, victims of domestic violence will have to keep running from pillar to post.
Dr Pakila Dukpa said they have targeted to make the centre operational by the end of this year, but he did not sound confident about it.
From 2005 till this year, there have been some 2,000 reported cases of intimate partner violence. Currently, victims come to the hospital where health officials coordinate with the police and explain the illegality of cases to them.
The centre aims to bring all relevant agencies together to cater to victims of domestic violence. Once the centre starts functioning, victims can get medical treatment, psychological help, police services, legal advice, and forensic tests and receive social support from NGOs such as Renew.
By Tandin Pem
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.One in four women 25 has experienced domestic violence in her lifetime.. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The National Institute of Justice Extent Nature and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence July 2000. The Commonwealth Fund Health Concerns Across a Woman s Lifespan 1998 Survey of Women s Health 1999 .Estimates range from 960 000 incidents of violence against a current or former spouse boyfriend or girlfriend to 3 million women who are physically abused by their husband or boyfriend per year.