Diarrhea kills 50 in W. Kalimantan

Diarrhea kills 50 in W. Kalimantan

JAKARTA (JP): Up to 50 people have died from diarrhea in West
Kalimantan with limited access to clean water cited as the major
cause, the Antara news agency reported yesterday.

The West Kalimantan Health Office said that nearly 43,000
people affected by the virus are now hospitalized in various
cities in the province.

Ketapang Regency is the worst effected area with 30 people
dead, followed by Sanggau with nine people, Sambas with eight
people, Pontianak two and Sintang one.

Health Office chief Sri Astuti said, however, that the
authorities will not declare a state of emergency in the area,
stressing that diarrhea is endemic in West Kalimantan during long
dry spells.

The problem will remain as long as people in the area continue
to have problems getting clean water, she said.

A number of people who managed to leave Pontianak recently
said the thick haze covering a large portion of the province has
added to the health hazards with many people complaining of
breathing and eye problems. (emb)

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ANPAc..r..
News-highlight
Finearts-competition
The Philip Morris Awards winners
JP/2/Highlight-FINEART

The Philip Morris Awards winners

JAKARTA (JP): Nyoman Erawan of Gianyar, Bali, has won first
prize in the Philip Morris Group of Companies Indonesian Art
Awards 1994 for his creation called Kalpataru, or tree of hope
and welfare.

Jim Supangkat, a member of the jury, told The Jakarta Post
yesterday that Sunaryo, from Bandung, who created Ikan dan Bubu
(fish and fishing net), Asri Nugroho Nus Pakurimba, from
Surabaya, for Jesus Penebus (Jesus the Redeemer), Sugiarso
Widodo, from Surabaya, for Structure of Metals and I Gusti Agung
Gede Mangu Putera, from Yogyakarta, for Imajinasi Bawah Laut
(Undersea imagination) won the second, third, fourth and fifth
prizes respectively.

The jury also awarded special prizes to five other finalists:
Ugo Untoro, Hening Purnamawati, Sigit Santosa, Deden Sambas and
Gus Ballon.

Jim said the five winners' creations will represent Indonesia
in the Philip Morris Group of Companies ASEAN Art Awards 1994 in
Singapore.

The Indonesian section of the Philip Morris Art Awards is
organized in cooperation with Yayasan Senirupa Indonesia (the
Indonesian Fine Arts Foundation). (als)

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ANPAc..r..
India-plague
Plague outbreak to peak in next few days
JP/2/plague

Plague outbreak to peak soon

NEW DELHI (AFP): The number of suspected pneumonic plague
cases in the Indian capital soared past 200 yesterday, but a top
health service official predicted the outbreak should peak in the
next few days before tapering off.

State health secretaries were meeting in New Delhi, meanwhile,
to draw up a comprehensive strategy to tackle the outbreak, which
has left 50 people dead in western India and two here in the
national capital.

Alok Mukherjee, director-general of India's health services,
told reporters that the number of plague cases should reach a
peak in the next four or five days before declining.

"It seems we are about to reach the peak," he said. Indian
health officials have predicted that the country should be free
of the disease within 10 days.

Confirmed plague cases have been reported in six of India's 25
states and the capital, where newspapers said more than 200
people had been admitted to hospitals with plague-like symptoms.

Only around 20 of the patients in hospitals here have been
confirmed, however, as actually suffering from pneumonic plague,
a highly infectious disease which attacks a victim's lungs.

Delhi Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the city's hospitals
had been told to set up isolation wards for plague victims.

Schools and movie theaters have been closed here until at
least October 15 as a precaution and the government has canceled
public functions for the next four days.

The cabinet of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao reviewed the
situation on Friday, officials said, and decided that adequate
measures were being taken to control the plague outbreak.

There was no need for "panic or alarm," they said, and there
were sufficient stocks of antibiotics to fight the easily curable
disease.