Dengue kills another child as outbreak worsens
Dengue kills another child as outbreak worsens
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post
One more child died of dengue fever on Wednesday as the outbreak
worsened in the capital.
The City Health Agency said that as many as 61 dengue patients
were admitted into hospitals on Wednesday, but still declined to
declare the outbreak an emergency.
"According to our procedure the current condition is not yet
considered an emergency. However, we have anticipated every stage
of the outbreak," agency spokeswoman Zelfino told The Jakarta
Post.
The city declares an emergency if between 15 to 20 new cases
are admitted each day to a hospital.
Upon declaring an emergency, the administration would allocate
special funds and take extra measures, including a mass education
campaign and special medication efforts, to prevent the outbreak
from spreading.
The number of patients treated in hospitals in the capital
increased to 394 people on Wednesday from 333 on Tuesday.
The highest number of cases occurred in East Jakarta with 119
people, followed by South Jakarta with 109 people, West Jakarta
62, North Jakarta with 60 people and Central Jakarta with 54
people.
The total number of cases has reached 19,095 since January
with 59 people dying from the disease.
Gunawan, 5, from Kali Deres, West Jakarta was the latest
victim of dengue. He died on Tuesday evening after being treated
at Budi Asih Hospital in East Jakarta.
Zelfino refused allegations that her office had done little to
prevent the disease from spreading as it did not quickly declare
an emergency.
"Just because we don't declare an emergency doesn't mean we do
nothing. We hold meetings with all community health centers every
Thursday to monitor the situation, and order them to accept every
dengue patient for free," she said.
Zelfino said her office had conducted a Friday program in
which all officials at every subdistrict in Jakarta urged people
to drain their open tanks, cover bathing tanks and bury used
cans.
"We must acknowledge that many people have not joined the
program yet. Actually, if we do this consistently we can stop the
spread of the disease," she said.
After Budi Asih in East Jakarta and Fatmawati Hospital in
South Jakarta, Pasar Rebo Hospital in East Jakarta and Koja
Hospital in North Jakarta have also run out of beds for dengue
patients.
Pasar Rebo Hospital, which is handling 64 cases of dengue, has
to place 22 patients along their terrace, while the Koja
hospital, which is treating dozens of patients, has to transfer
several of their patients to other hospitals.
Minister of Health Siti Fadhilah Supari said on Wednesday that
Jakarta had the highest number of dengue cases in Indonesia, with
East Java coming second with 6,007 cases.
She said that until Aug. 8 the total number of dengue cases in
the country reached 36,499 in 31 province, with 498 people dying
from the disease.