Doctors support claim on high AIDS death rate

Doctors support claim on high AIDS death rate

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): Two leading medical doctors supported yesterday
the claim by a research agency from the University of Indonesia
that between 12,000 and 31,000 people die in Indonesia each year
from the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Although there are no medical records to support the estimated
number of deaths, Samsuridjal Djauzi and Kartono Mohamad, both
active anti-AIDS campaigners, said ignorance has prevented the
nation from realizing how deeply AIDS has penetrated the country.

The report published on Monday by the Center for Health
Research, said that because of Indonesia's poor AIDS monitoring
system, the number of people with AIDS is severely underreported,
and a high proportion of AIDS-related deaths also go unrecorded.

The Ministry of Health was not available to comment on the
report yesterday.

Samsuridjal told The Jakarta Post that in most cases, doctors
were not at fault for failing to diagnose the presence of the
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes AIDS.

"Some people are simply reluctant to go to health services,"
said the medical adviser to the Pelita Ilmu Foundation on AIDS.

On a recent trip to Merauke, Irian Jaya, he found two sick
people with HIV-positive symptoms. They had not gone to the
nearest health center for a checkup. They simply stayed at home,
he said.

"So we brought them to hospital and had them examined", and
the initial tests confirmed his suspicions, he said.

Some HIV-positive people go overseas for their medical check-
ups in an attempt to conceal their condition from people at home.

"It's understandable that the government can't detect every
HIV-positive or AIDS case," said Samsuridjal, chairperson of the
Medical Association for AIDS.

But doctors' ignorance is partly to blame, said Kartono,
vice chairperson of the Indonesia AIDS Foundation.

It is possible that doctors are not recognizing AIDS symptoms
as they often show up as symptoms of other diseases, such as
tuberculosis, hepatitis or diarrhea.

"It's not because doctors are unable to diagnose the virus,
but that the virus is very good in disguising its symptoms," said
Kartono, former chairman of the Indonesian Medical Association.

Besides, it takes a long time to detect the virus from a blood
test, "and not everyone has access to testing facilities," he
said.

Many people who have died of AIDS may not have known they had
contracted the virus, he said.

The Ministry of Health, which monitors the number of AIDS and
HIV-positive cases, said that by September, a total of 449 people
in Indonesia either had AIDS or were HIV-positive. Of these, 66
had died.

Government officials and international agencies have
consistently maintained that the actual number of people who have
AIDS or are HIV-positive are in the tens of thousands. But this
is the first time anyone has attempted to estimate the number of
AIDS-related deaths.

Samsuridjal said the report should "wake" those who have so
far lightly dismissed the threat of AIDS.

"I'm very concerned about people who look at the figures of
reported HIV-positive and AIDS related cases, and who do not
realize the actual figures are far higher," Samsuridjal said.

The government must improve the current system of monitoring
AIDS and HIV-positive cases, he said.

The information contained in the report should change the
attitude of people who have considered the anti-AIDS campaign to
be excessive and a waste money, he said.