The mantri-ziekenverpleger was the indigenous nursing assistant of the Netherlands-Indies medical service, one of whom was attached to Dr. C. E. Gomperts throughout his eye survey of 1937 in Groot-Atjeh.
In the survey
Gomperts recorded under the heading Personeel: “Aan verslaggever was een mantri-ziekenverpleger toegevoegd, die vele- en goede diensten bij dit onderzoek heeft bewezen” — a mantri-ziekenverpleger was attached to the reporter, who rendered many and good services in this survey. His salary for the ten months of the survey, ƒ200, appears as a separate item in the statement of expenditure alongside the medicines, the travelling costs of the Officier van Gezondheid and the ophthalmological equipment.
The mantri appears in the first of the two photographs printed with the report, captioned “Oogheelkundige uitrusting met mantri-ziekenverpleger” — ophthalmological equipment with the mantri-ziekenverpleger.
The interpreter
Besides the mantri, Gomperts’s own chauffeur — an Atjehnese — served as “een zeer verdienstelijke tolk” (a very deserving interpreter) and was also helpful with the distribution of medicines. The five-seater car carrying the whole equipment still had room for four persons including the driver.
See Also
Source
Oriënteerend oogheelkundig onderzoek bij de Atjehsche bevolking van Groot-Atjeh gedurende 1937 (“Orienting Ophthalmological Survey among the Atjehnese Population of Groot-Atjeh during 1937”), by Dr. C. E. Gomperts, offprint from the Geneeskundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië, Afl. 19, Deel 80 (1940), pp. 1191-1238 (Batavia-Centrum: G. Kolff & Co.). Received by the editors 25 October 1939. Offprint DLP-157, Bibliotheek KITLV.