Anger over slow response on bird flu

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Already concerned by news reports of bird flu in Greater Jakarta, the first thing Nana did when dozens of chickens and other birds began dying in Kampung Gardu, Buaran village, Tangerang, was contact the local animal husbandry office.

"What really terrified me was that children in my neighborhood began coming down with fevers at the same time. I am afraid that bird flu has arrived in my neighborhood. The really frustrating thing is that officials from the animal husbandry agency did not respond to my calls," she told The Jakarta Post recently.

After calling the agency several times but failing to get a response, she gave up and now just hopes for the best.

"I just wanted them to check if the chickens and birds in the neighborhood were infected with avian influenza, nothing else," she told the Post.

Nana is just one of numerous residents in Greater Jakarta who have accused health officials of ignoring reports from the public of suspected bird flu cases.

A senior official at the Jakarta Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, and Maritime Affairs Agency, Adnan Ahmad, said it was impossible to respond immediately to every report because local animal husbandry agencies had only three to four veterinarians to cover an entire regency.

"Tangerang, for instance, has only three veterinarians at its animal husbandry agency. With the bird flu outbreak, they cannot cope with all the reports being filed by residents," he told the Post.

He did acknowledge, however, that several officials at local animal husbandry agencies in Greater Jakarta had failed to make bird flu their top priority since the national campaign to eradicate the disease was launched by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in September.

Ahmad said the central government should push local administrations to prioritize the campaign against bird flu, and help to improve coordination among the different administrations.

In addition to a lack of veterinarians, many agencies also complain about conflicting policies issued by the central government and local administrations regarding the disbursement of funds to tackle bird flu.

The head of the animal husbandry agency in West Jakarta, Riana Faiza, said his office had not received any funds from the central government or any additional funds from the Jakarta administration.

"We have heard the government has been allocating money to local administrations to deal with bird flu for the last several months, but we have not received any money. Now we are expected to do more work on the same budget," she said.

Riana said her office was working to prevent the spread of bird flu through information campaigns, the spraying of disinfectant and selectively culling chickens and other birds.

She said her office had culled dozens of infected birds and chickens in several districts, but had been unable to compensate the owners because of budget constraints.

Adnan said his office had found infected birds in every municipality in Jakarta and had culled hundreds of fowl.

The World Health Organization-sanctioned laboratory in Hong Kong has confirmed 12 cases of bird flu in humans in Indonesia, which have resulted in seven deaths.