Flood-related illnesses kill 15 in capital city

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The death toll of flood victims killed by diarrhea and other flood-related ailments around the city increased to at least 15 on Wednesday amid public ignorance about the illnesses.

Data from the city health agency revealed that since Jan. 28, diarrhea-related illnesses had killed 11 children and babies while the rest died of dengue hemorrhagic fever and upper respiratory infections.

Most of them died after being admitted to the hospital in critical condition.

There are at least 750 flood victims still being treated at several hospitals around the city, mostly at the Tarakan public hospital in Central Jakarta.

One of the fatalities included a 10-month old baby from Tambora in West Jakarta.

"We did not know that Kemala (the baby) had diarrhea. She seemed okay," said a relative.

Kemala had been in a shelter for about four days. Her mother took her to a health post because she looked very pale, and the staff instructed her to take Kemala to Tarakan hospital. Doctors, however, could not do much due to the advanced stage of her illness.

Flood victims in Tambora said that neither the subdistrict office nor the city health agency had warned them about the possible symptoms of various flood-related illnesses.

Eti, a resident of Kebun Jeruk, also in West Jakarta, said the same thing.

"I brought my baby to a health post because he had no appetite for several days. But the doctor there just told me to take him to the hospital," she said.

Her five-month-old son was being treated at the Tarakan hospital for diarrhea.

"I dropped out of elementary school, I don't know anything about health," she said.

Dr. Soekirman Soekin, the director of Tarakan hospital admitted that the families of most patients were ignorant of the diseases that they are prone to, so they failed to get medical treatment to the patients immediately.

On Wednesday afternoon, the hospital was treating 212 patients, 108 of which are believed to be flood victims.

"The fact is that diarrhea is widespread, even among those who were not flooded out of their homes," he told The Jakarta Post, and added that there was a possibility of a dengue fever outbreak.

Dr. Abdul Chalik Masulili, the head of the city health agency, also warned about the epidemic.

"Besides diarrhea, we are now facing a possible dengue hemorrhagic fever outbreak as it has claimed two victims in West Jakarta," he said.

The fever is carried by aedes aegypty mosquitoes, which lay their eggs on the surface of still water and are day biters.

Even before the floods, Jakarta was already prone to dengue.

Masulili also acknowledged the public ignorance of various diseases that had resulted in the death of some patients.

But he denied the agency had failed to inform the public about possible diseases following the flood, saying that the health agency had warned the public through the 324 health centers here since November last year.

"We have also informed the people through the mass media recently," he told the Post.

Masulili admitted that the total of 265 doctors at the agency was not sufficient to serve all the flood victims here and called on retired doctors as well as junior doctors to help them.

The private Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) as well as some individual doctors had assisted by providing medical treatment for the flood victims.

The agency deputy head, Dr. Henny Poerwonegoro, said that he had attempted to prevent contagious diseases by spraying disinfectant in public restrooms, chlorinating wells and giving oralit (a rehydration drink) to each neighborhood here.