Government intensifies measures against SARS
Government intensifies measures against SARS
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia has intensified measures against possible outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) amid increasing fatalities across the world and reports that an Indonesian student was infected with the killer disease in Singapore.
In Jakarta, Bali and Batam, airport officials have started wearing masks to protect them against SARS.
Immigration officials at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta started to wear masks on Monday when receiving passengers from Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
At Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport, airport authorities require all health quarantine officers to wear an N- 95 protective mask.
The mask had been developed in accordance with WHO's standards to prevent transmission of viral diseases, airport authority chief IGM Dhordy said.
Head of Bali's health agency Made Molin Yudiasa MD confirmed that the agency had sent at least 7,000 health alert cards or yellow cards and 160 N-95 protective masks to the Ngurah Rai International Airport.
Jakarta receives at least 900 passengers from Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Vietnam every day and Bali receives about 1,000 travelers from SARS-prone countries daily.
Batam is only 20 kilometers away from Singapore, where now 90 people have been infected with SARS.
Minister of Health Ahmad Sujudi pledged on Monday that the government would intensify measures against a possible outbreak of SARS.
"We will discuss measures to anticipate any possible SARS outbreak at home tomorrow (Tuesday) in a ministerial meeting at the office of the coordinating minister for people's welfare," the minister told reporters.
He did not reveal the measures, saying only that the government would isolate persons infected with SARS.
"I cannot reveal yet the policy because it requires coordination with other ministries," Sujudi said.
He also said that the government, through the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore, would closely monitor a 17-year-old Indonesian male student who was infected with SARS after visiting Guangdong, China and Hong Kong with his brother and parents on March 15.
The Indonesian Embassy in Singapore confirmed on Monday that there was a SARS-infected Indonesian student there.
Embassy spokesman Chalief Akbar said that it had received a fax from shipping firm PT PIL informing the embassy that an Indonesia crew member had died, possibly of SARS, on the way from Hong Kong to Singapore.
The liner, according to him, has another six Indonesian crew members who are still in quarantine at Singapore's seaport.
Since the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a travel advisory on March 15 to and from SARS-prone countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Vietnam, the government has issued a similar travel advisory to those SARS prone countries.
The government had also sent a letter to hospitals and health officials on the standard operating procedures in dealing with SARS-infected people, especially to medical workers at airports and seaports.
Health officials at ports have to distribute health alert cards issued by the Ministry of Health to passengers and flight crew from SARS-prone countries.
The cards contain general information on SARS symptoms that include a high fever of over 38 degrees Celsius, coughing, difficulty in breathing and muscular pain, as well as what to do if the card recipients happen to have these symptoms.