Ministry seeks travel ban for SARS sufferers<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Health has asked the Ministry of Justice and
\nHuman Rights to bar suspected sufferers of SARS who have been
\ndischarged from the hospital from leaving the country. This comes
\nafter a suspected SARS patient fled to Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
Umar Fahmi Achmadi, director general for communicable diseases
\nand environmental health at the health ministry, said on Monday
\nsuch a measure would help prevent the community transmission of
\nSARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Disease.<\/p>\n
\"We will propose it at an interministerial meeting on Tuesday
\nand it depends on the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to
\napprove the proposal,\" he told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines
\nof a meeting with a number of manpower companies that send
\nmigrant workers overseas.<\/p>\n
\"When a suspected SARS patient fled home isolation in
\nTangerang, Banten, to Hong Kong it taught us an important lesson
\nwe must not repeat,\" he said.<\/p>\n
There are about 7,000 foreigners from SARS-affected countries
\nsuch as Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan working in Indonesia,
\naccording to data from the Ministry of Manpower and
\nTransmigration.<\/p>\n
One of these people was declared a probable SARS patient and
\nwas treated at the Sulianti Saroso Infectious Diseases Hospital
\nin North Jakarta. He was discharged from the hospital last week
\nand told to remain isolated at his home for 14 days, but instead
\nhe flew to Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
The government has announced that there was no community
\ntransmission from the patient before or after he left hospital,
\nbut there are fears he may have infected several people on his
\nway to Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
As of Monday, there were three suspected SARS patients in the
\ncountry and all of them were being treated at the Sulianti Saroso
\nInfectious Diseases Hospital, according to the government.<\/p>\n
Azimal, a member of a government team set up to investigate
\nand contain SARS, said there was intensified coordination with
\nimmigration offices at air and seaports to help ensure no
\nsuspected SARS patients were allowed to leave the country until
\nthey had been declared free from the virus.<\/p>\n
\"That is what we can do now. We do not want any more instances
\nof suspected SARS patients fleeing,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The central government has also asked regional administrations
\nto monitor 51 international entry and exit points for illegal
\nmigrant workers, who have the potential to spread SARS.<\/p>\n
\"We must monitor them although it will be quite difficult,\"
\nMardjono, director for the protection and empowerment of
\nIndonesian migrant workers at the Ministry of Manpower and
\nTransmigration, said.<\/p>\n
Mardjono said Nunukan in East Kalimantan and a number of ports
\nin Riau were favored by illegal workers seeking to leave the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
The government has halted the placement of Indonesian migrant
\nworkers in SARS-affected countries to prevent them from being
\ninfected with the virus.<\/p>\n
Several Indonesian workers in Hong Kong have been infected
\nwith SARS and are being treated at hospitals there.<\/p>\n
Umar said villages across the country were the most vulnerable
\nto the spread of the disease because of the many migrant workers
\nreturning home from SARS-affected countries.<\/p>\n
\"So we hope manpower offices are cautious with migrant workers
\nreturning from SARS-affected areas. It is important for Indonesia
\nnot to have community transmission of SARS,\" he said.<\/p>\n
If community transmission of SARS occurs in the country, the
\nimpact on tourism and the whole economy will be much worse, he
\nsaid.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ministry-seeks-travel-ban-for-sars-sufferers-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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