City mobilize forces in battle against dengue
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta administration has set up a task force to deal with a dengue fever outbreak that as of Friday has infected at least 1,277 people, leading to nine deaths.
City Health Agency head Abdul Chalik Masulili said the dengue fever outbreak in Jakarta had been classified as "extraordinary" and that immediate steps needed to be taken to deal with the problem.
"The administration has waived hospital charges for dengue patients being treated in third-class wards at 17 state hospitals and 58 private hospitals."
Agency spokeswoman Evy Zelfino said that beginning on Friday, 1,500 trained personnel would be deployed to fumigate 84 subdistricts classified as red status zones.
"An area of 100 meters around the houses of dengue fever patients in yellow status areas will also be fumigated," she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Red status means three or more people in a certain area have dengue fever, while yellow status means one or two people in an area have dengue.
The red status areas include 31 subdistricts in East Jakarta, 22 in South Jakarta, 12 in North Jakarta, 11 in West Jakarta and eight subdistricts in Central Jakarta.
The task force includes 1,000 people recruited from neighborhood security watches, public order officers and police assistance officers, with another 500 people from the Communication Forum of Sons and Daughters of Retired Armed Forces Officers and the social group Panca Marga.
"All of the members have received training. A group of 20 will be deployed in each of the 84 red-status subdistricts," Evy said.
Since last year, the health agency has built posts in community units to check the areas for the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that spread dengue fever. The people manning these posts also help educate the community about steps that can be taken to prevent dengue.
The city also has sent out dozens of university students to take part in the campaign against dengue.
"We encouraged students from different medical schools and community health academies to take part in the program in various subdistricts around Jakarta," Evy said.