Government prepares huge anti-polio campaign
Government prepares huge anti-polio campaign
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Health will set up 275,000 posts
throughout the country for a nation-wide anti-polio drive which
will commence next Wednesday.
Minister of Health Sujudi told reporters here yesterday that
the posts will be established in every neighborhood, public
health center, hospital, bus station, kindergarten and other
public place.
The country's 27 provincial administrations, together with the
private sector and the general public, will work together to set
up the posts, he said.
To support the program, which is addressed to children of
maximum five years of age, the ministry has recruited 825,000
vaccination personnel and 90,000 supervisors, Sujudi said.
"Both the personnel and supervisors include activists of
women's and social organizations, teachers and scouts," he said.
Their training finished last month and they are now ready to
carry out the program, which will start next week, he added.
According to Sujudi, the ministry has developed a recording
and reporting system for the observation and operation of the
program.
"The system was tested on Aug. 31 and so far the result is
satisfactory," he said.
The ambitious program to eradicate polio will be kicked off by
President Soeharto from his residence in Menteng, Central
Jakarta, on Sept. 13. The President is scheduled to insert the
vaccine into a child's mouth. The same ceremony will be repeated
at the residence of Vice President Try Sutrisno an hour later,
Sujudi said.
The first phase of the program will last until Sept. 19. The
second will take place from Oct. 18 until Oct. 24. The program
will be repeated next year and in 1997, he added.
Sujudi said that the implementation of the program in Java,
Bali and the capital cities of other provinces will take only a
day or two.
"Bali has said that it will finish the program within a day,"
he said. The minister expects Yogyakarta to follow suit.
To support the program, Sujudi said, the government needs Rp
45 billion (US$20 million).
"Out of the figure Rp 23 billion comes from the central
government and local administrations, Rp 6 billion is foreign aid
and Rp 16 billion comes from the private sector," he said.
According to Sujudi the state-owned Bio Farma pharmaceutical
company in Bandung produced 3.2 million vials of the polio
vaccine last month to support the program.
The company has also provided buffer-stock for the program, he
added.
Sujudi said he hoped that one or two days before the start of
the program the vaccine will have arrived at the posts. "The
Armed Forces has agreed to help us in providing transportation to
reach isolated places."
About 21.7 million children will be immunized in the first
phase of the program. It is free of charge, he said.
Sujudi denied reports that the Aceh provincial administration
had collected money from the people for the program.
"The local office of the ministry of health has stated that the
money will not be used for the anti-polio drive but for another
health program conducted by PKK, the government-sponsored family
welfare program."
"Next year we expect the budget will decrease to between Rp
five and 10 billions," he said.
The great sum needed for this year's program is due to fact
that the government has to provide equipment, such as vaccine
carriers and ice packs, which are quite expensive, he said.
"We can use this equipment next year and this will help reduce
the budget," he added.
He also expressed the hope that wealthy people will also bring
their children to the anti-polio posts to be vaccinated.
Sujudi said that he is optimistic that the program will be
successful and will be able to reach the target set by the World
Health Organization.
The international agency has decided the world should be free
of polio by the year 2000.
According to Sujudi, his ministry will conduct an anti-measles
immunization program after the current drive. That will be
followed by an anti-tetanus drive for pregnant mothers. (05)