Government critized over SARS inaction
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite the rapid spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the government appears to be slow in containing the epidemic, even though it has been declared a national threat.
Worse still, health officials are refusing to provide the exact number of suspected cases, raising fears among the public at large the government is covering up the extent of the outbreak.
A spokeswoman for the health minister was quoted by Antara as saying on Saturday that three more people with SARS symptoms were admitted to Jakarta's infectious diseases hospital on Friday.
If the statement is correct the number of suspected cases should be eight.
But the director for epidemiology surveillance, immunization, and health at the Ministry of Health, Indriyono, whose office is expected to know exactly what is going on, denied any knowledge of the minister's information, asking The Jakarta Post to inquire directly with the concerned hospital.
Even after Health Minister Achmad Sujudi declared SARS a national threat last Thursday, three weeks after the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a global alert, there have been no significant preventative measures implemented at the country's numerous entry points.
Health officials have distributed surgical masks to dozens of airports and ports in Indonesia.
The government has also increased the number of doctors at entry points, but they do little.
Doctors and paramedics at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten, for example, distribute information on SARS to incoming passengers but do not perform physical examinations.
Law No. 4/1984 on epidemic diseases, enacted last Thursday, allows health officials to physically inspect suspected SARS patients.
While the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration has stopped sending workers to SARS-affected countries, it has made no attempt to provide medical checkups for workers coming from those countries.
That prompted legislator Surya Chandra, a medical doctor, to urge the government to pay special attention to migrant workers returning home from infected countries as workers could infect rural areas where hospitals lack adequate equipment to treat SARS patients.
"Officials at airports should do personal medical examinations on each of them," Surya told the Post Saturday.
Earlier, Marius Widjajarta, chief of the Indonesian Health Consumer Empowerment Foundation, criticized the government efforts to combat SARS.
A Metro TV survey broadcast on Thursday, said more than 60 percent of respondents said government steps to declare SARS a national threat was very late.