'City should no a better job"

On average, 10 people with dengue fever are admitted to city- owned hospitals every day, bringing the total of dengue cases since the beginning of this year to nearly 2,000. The central government has declared an extraordinary incidence of dengue in Jakarta and five other regions, and has urged that extra measures be taken to curb the outbreak. The Jakarta Post asked residents how they deal with the issue.

Ibu Ginting, 48, runs a small stall in her house in Meruya subdistrict, West Jakarta:

Nobody in our complex has contracted dengue. Not this year and not last year.

And nobody has come to fumigate the neighborhood either.

Do you want to know how we prevent dengue outbreaks in our neighborhood? We clean the area every Sunday to eliminate places for mosquitoes to breed. We do it at our own initiative.

Hendra is in his 40s and works for a private company. The father of two lives in Joglo, West Jakarta:

I am not that worried about dengue because no one in our neighborhood has contracted it.

I take extra care to eliminate any places in my house where mosquitoes might breed.

I don't think the city administration has done enough. It should do a better job as an outbreak happens every year.

And why are they providing free health care only for dengue patients? They should provide free health care for all endemic diseases.

--The Jakarta Post