Govt to check passengers from India
Govt to check passengers from India
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman said yesterday
that the government will check plane passengers from India with
special treatments following the spread of pneumonic plague in
the South Asian country.
"This check is a part of our standard immigration policy to
block any disease carrier," Oetojo said, adding that the
government will soon announce its decision concerning the arrival
of people and cargo from India.
Earlier reports said that according to an official account, 50
Indians were killed during the catastrophe, with all but two of
the deaths in or near the city of Surat where the outbreak
erupted last month.
A number of countries as far as Yemen, Russia and Thailand
have taken steps to guard against the sickness by advising
against travel to India, dropping direct flights and screening or
even barring travelers and cargo from India.
According to the head of the Jakarta Health Office, Soeharto
Wirjowidagdo, the pneumonic plague, popularly known as black
death in Europe or sampar in Bahasa Indonesia, is caused by
plague bacillus (in Latin yersiana pestis) and is carried by rat
fleas.
An infected person, he said last week, after being bitten by a
carrier rodent could spread the bacillus to others through his or
her droplets.
The wild rodents inhabit Latin America, Africa, Mid and South
East Asia, including Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Kartono Mohamad, the chairman of the Indonesian
Medical Association, called on the government yesterday to take
firm measures over the lethal plague, saying that the influx of
cargo from India should also be examined if not temporarily
stopped.
Kartono said that some countries like Singapore, Malaysia and
Pakistan, had not only halted the influx of passengers but also
cargo from India.
Denial
Soeharto Wirjowidagdo and Suheni Soedjatmiko, the spokeswoman
for the Ministry of Health, denied a report in The Jakarta Post
on Saturday stating that pneumonic plague (in Latin bubonic
pneumonic) had been reported in the capital.
Soeharto did not say in his interview with the Post that the
plague, which was reported to be in Jakarta, had any connection
with the one which is now spreading in India.
Suheni said that what had been reported here were merely cases
of acute respiratory infections which are not caused by yersiana
pestis.
"These diseases have similar symptoms with the pneumonic
plague but different causes requiring different medical
treatments," she said.
"It's totally different from the pneumonic plague spreading in
India," she added.
Suheni was also quoted by Antara news agency as saying
yesterday that pneumonic plague in Indonesia was first reported
in Tanjung Perak seaport, East Java, during the Dutch colonial
period in 1910.
The last case of sampar took place in Pasuruan, East Java,
killing 20 of 24 infected people in 1986. (09)