City finally starting health program for flood ailments
City finally starting health program for flood ailments
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
It took three fatalities from 287 patients suffering from
dengue before the Jakarta Administration finally decided to set
up a health program to alert local residents to the disease after
the three-week-long floods.
The program , officially inaugurated by Governor Sutiyoso in
ceremony at the National Monument (Monas) on Saturday, includes
the use of pesticides to kill Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae,
which carry the dengue arbovirus, that are breeding rapidly in
nearby reservoirs.
"We must inform the city's residents of the program, so that
they won't refuse it," the head of the City Health Agency, Abdul
Cholik Masulili told The Jakarta Post about the delay.
He also refused the accusation that the administration had
been pitifully slow to respond to preventing water-borne diseases
after the floods.
"Conducting a public campaign is not an easy task," Masulili
said, adding that the health program was aimed at encouraging
residents to maintain a high level of hygiene in their
neighborhoods.
Jakarta is prone to dengue. Each year, hundreds of residents
fall sick from the disease. During a dengue outbreak in 1998,
over 15,000 people fell ill and more than 300 died and this year
a serious outbreak is likely because floods have created numerous
breeding grounds for the mosquito.
Masulili renewed calls on residents to prevent the disease by
scrupulously scrubbing household water tanks, buckets and keeping
their lids tightly closed, as well as burying old cans.
The administration will also deploy over 9,000 medical
officers for the free-of-charge health operation in 149
subdistricts around the city. The officers will manage the public
campaign against the disease.
Masulili said the officers' tasks are to pour chlorine and
disinfectant and give the oral rehydration medicine oralit to
flood victims in a bid to curb the spread of diarrhea. Diarrhea
has claimed the lives of over 20 people, mostly toddlers, among
over 2,300 suffering from flood-related ailments since Jan. 28.
The agency is providing 3,000 kilograms of chlorine, 27,000
liters of disinfectant, 70,000 sachets of oralit and 1,625 abate,
the pesticide to kill mosquito larvae.
In another development, several flood-monitoring posts
organized by non-governmental organizations and students from
Jakarta State University (UNG), reported that a number of
community health centers in North Jakarta and East Jakarta were
charging people, suffering from flood-related illnesses, Rp
10,000 each.
Farid R. Faqih, coordinator of a flood post, expected the
agency to instruct community health centers and privately run
hospitals to provide free medical treatment for flood victims.
He also said that flood victims should be treated free of
charge without having to present certain documents declaring that
they are flood victims, as required by the health centers and
hospitals.
"Please report them to us along with the receipt so I can take
effective action," he said, adding that people could contact the
agency on Jl. Kesehatan 1 in Central Jakarta, or phone 381-3217.
People can also contact him on his mobile phone, 0812-9087118.