Cities respond differently to possible SARS outbreak
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesian authorities in separate cities here gave different responses on Tuesday on the possibility of a recurrence of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), after a new case was confirmed in southern China.
In the North Sumatra capital of Medan, there were no visible security measures being taken at Polonia Airport, despite the World Health Organization's (WHO) confirmation on the new case of SARS found in China's Guangzhou province.
No examinations were done on arriving passengers on Tuesday, and no airport workers were seen with protective masks.
Devices to detect the possibility of a person with SARS, such as temperature screening, were not seen anywhere at the airport. However, they were installed at the airport when the SARS outbreak was at its peak in early 2002.
Asked by reporters about the readiness of the airport to prevent SARS here, Polonia Airport manager Soebagyo said that he would immediately cooperate with the Polonia Health Quarantine department to begin the SARS detection activities.
Unlike Medan, authorities in Yogyakarta and Bali have apparently taken precautionary measures for SARS.
In Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport, six thermal scanners had been deployed three weeks ago at various points to detect any arriving tourists with SARS symptoms, which include a fever.
"The equipment detects and identifies those incoming passengers, whose body temperature is 39 degrees Celsius, the most easily diagnosed symptom," chief of the airport authority IGM Dhordy said.
According to Dhordy, some 35 international flights and up to 4,000 foreign passengers arrive every day.
Chief of Bali Health Agency Molin Yudiasa said that the equipment had been put out in the middle of December after he was informed on the reemergence of a suspected SARS case in Taiwan.
The scanners were placed at the International Arrival and International Departure Terminals and also at the airport's two facilities for VIPs and state guests.
Trained officers from the Bali Health Agency were assigned to man the scanners around the clock.
The officers, Molin said, had been told to pay special attention to the incoming passengers from several countries that in the past had experienced the outbreak of SARS, such as Taiwan, China, Hongkong and Singapore.
"Thus far, we have not found any foreign visitors, who displayed the symptoms of the disease," he assured.
Similar to Bali, Yogyakarta has also prepared appropriately.
Head of Yogyakarta's health office Choirul Anwar has called on all public health clinics and hospitals to run routine examinations and submit monthly reports. He added that all Yogyakarta residences who had recently been to other countries were required to get health tests and undergo 10 days of out- patient monitoring.
"If, within 10 days, they do not show symptoms of SARS, then they'll be safe," said Choirul.
The strict precautionary measures are necessary because the province could be prone to SARS if it erupts again as it is favorite destination of international travelers as well as returning overseas workers.
In greater Jakarta, although reports on the SARS case in China have become a subject of discussion this week, it has been business-as-usual at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.