Cholera outbreak strains health services in Lampung

Cholera outbreak strains health services in Lampung

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung

The rain, for some people is not always a boon, and the
torrential rains that have hammered Bandarlampung over the past
week have also brought with them new problems, specifically
cholera.

The storm in a number of subdistricts in Sukarame, North and
West Telukbetung and Panjang districts last Thursday, for
instance, swamped houses and the water level remains at 50 to 80
centimeters in some places. It was the second flood in two weeks
to submerge the area and one result has been a cholera outbreak,
which is often accompanied by symptoms of extremely severe
diarrhea.

"Most of the cholera sufferers are those from flooded areas,
as the sanitary conditions are quite poor," said Dr. Reliani,
director of Abdoel Moeloek General Hospital in Bandarlampung,
capital of Lampung province.

Those affected by cholera, a serious bacterial infection that
attacks the intestines and can be extremely contagious, included
residents who have relied on tap water from Way Rilau, the state-
owned tap water company.

Two-year-old Nurjanah, has been lying in the hospital since
Wednesday, although her family was using tap water from the
company. Doctors surmised that she became ill because the tap
water was not working, and she may have ingested foul, flood
water.

We've been forced to wash our clothes and perform our daily
ablutions in the river, because the tap water has not been
running for the past month," said Nurjanah's father Misdan, 38, a
resident of Mesuji, Tulangbawang regency.

According to Misdan, more than half of the area's residents
used the water from the swollen Way Mesuji and Way Tulangbawang
rivers, even though both have become murky and polluted by
industrial and household waste.

Managing director of the Way Rilau tap water company,
Sudjaswadi, said that they were not able to fulfill the needs of
customers because the company was facing a shortage of water.

In addition to the damage to catchment areas and rivers, which
are the source of water for the company, four main pipes have
broken, greatly exacerbating the problems, he added.

Data at the Abdoel Moeloek hospital showed that four children
under the age of five had died from complications related to
severe diarrhea, believed to be cholera, over the past two weeks.
Two were from Bandarlampung city and the two others from
Tulangbawang regency.

There have been more than 40 children treated for cholera
since Nov. 19, while around 3,000 children were reportedly
suffering from severe diarrhea in a number of regencies and
municipalities. Thousands in Tulangbawang regency fell ill after
consuming river water.

Besides patients with severe diarrhea, of which the specific
disease was not known, a number of hospitals in Bandarlampung
have diagnosed cholera in dozens of patients over the last week.
The Urip Sumaharjo General Hospital has been treating 50 children
with cholera, three more were reported at the Abdoel Moeloek
hospital and two more at the Advent Hospital.

Reliani projected a steep increase in the number of cholera
cases as the flooding would continue in the province over the
next few days and weeks.

Bandarlampung's Health Office chief, Sudarman, said most of
those affected by cholera were generally children below five.

The number of patients at government hospitals or clinics
complaining of severe diarrhea reached 1,900 in August, 1,600 in
September, 1,500 in October and 1,300 patients from Nov. 1 to
Nov. 23.