'Epidemic laws must not violate human rights'<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
An activist warned the government on Friday against abusing
\nthe rights of patients or suspected patients of Severe Acute
\nRespiratory Syndrome (SARS) following the enforcement of the
\nepidemic law to contain the disease.<\/p>\n
The Law No. 4\/1984 gives the government the authority to carry
\nout necessary measures in the handling of SARS patients or
\nsuspected patients.<\/p>\n
Human Rights Activist Daniel Pandjaitan of the Legal Aid
\nInstitute said the government must ensure that measures against
\nSARS would not sacrifice human rights of people who may be
\nsuffering from the mysterious flu-like illness.<\/p>\n
"The government must first of all inform a person allegedly
\ninfected with SARS about his or her diagnosis, and allow him or
\nher to get a second opinion from his or her personal doctor," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
If the person is declared a SARS patient and isolated, the
\ngovernment must allow him or her to be visited by his\/her family,
\ndoctor and lawyer, he added.<\/p>\n
The government must provide compensation for SARS patients
\nduring their quarantine period.<\/p>\n
"Without those treatments, the government will certainly
\nviolate human rights of persons allegedly infected with SARS. The
\nlatter can sue the government," he said.<\/p>\n
But he agreed that if a person who was declared a SARS patient
\nrefused to be quarantined, the government could isolate the
\nperson by force.<\/p>\n
Article 4 of the 1984 law stipulates that measures to tackle
\nepidemic disease include investigation, medical checkup,
\ntreatment, isolation and quarantine, prevention and vaccination,
\ndestroying sources of the disease, treatment of corpses and
\ndistribution of information to the public.<\/p>\n
Article 10 stipulates that the government is responsible to
\nconduct measures to tackle epidemic diseases.<\/p>\n
The law also requires people to report any suspected patient
\nwho shows symptoms of the epidemic to nearest village head or
\nhealth clinic as stipulated in article 11.<\/p>\n
In addition anyone who suffers from the measures to control an
\nepidemic has the right to compensation, which is further ruled in
\na government regulation, the law says.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Health has repeatedly said the implementation
\nof the epidemic law was needed to provide a legal basis for the
\ngovernment's efforts to fight SARS.<\/p>\n
"We need to protect people from the danger of SARS,"
\nIndriyono, Director General for Epidemiology Surveillance,
\nImmunization and Health at the Ministry of Health said on Friday.<\/p>\n
So far, around 80 people have died worldwide due to SARS and
\nover 2,300 people have been infected with the ailment.<\/p>\n
Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi issued on Thursday a
\nMinisterial Decree No. 424\/2003 which declares SARS a national
\nepidemic threat, thus automatically enforcing the epidemic law.<\/p>\n
The epidemic law, according to Indriyono, was issued in 1984
\nto allow the government to take necessary measures against
\nepidemic diseases such as cholera and pests that were rampant at
\nthat time.<\/p>\n
The law was enacted also to meet any changes in the government
\nadministration structure, such as the establishment of health
\nclinics.<\/p>\n
The law also allows the minister to decide that a disease is
\nan epidemic and smooth the way for the imposition of the law on a
\nnew epidemic disease, which was perhaps not named in the previous
\nepidemic Law No. 6\/1962.<\/p>\n
Indriyono promised that the government would not enforce the
\nepidemic law arbitrarily.<\/p>\n
"We'll decide persons as SARS patients, suspected or observed
\npatients based on symptoms they display," he said.<\/p>\n
"We'll temporarily isolate persons returning from SARS-prone
\ncountries like Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Vietnam, who have
\nfever over 38 Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit) and who have difficulty
\nbreathing and a severe cough."<\/p>",
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