Government critized over SARS inaction

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.