Govt to send in Army for bird flu battle

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The increasing number of birth flu deaths in the country is prompting the government to deploy troops and volunteers to conduct door-to-door checks to find fowls infected with the virus.

The search would first be concentrated in Greater Jakarta and areas deemed "difficult" for officials to detect the avian influenza virus, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Monday.

"We have to address this problem quickly. There should be a door-to-door inspection by volunteers, university students and military personnel to ensure the areas are clear from bird flu," Susilo said.

Technical implementation would be discussed further with local administrations, he said, with the government trying to avoid violating the autonomy law.

"We should not (however) underestimate this problem. There must be an intensive campaign to make the public aware of the virus," he said.

The bird flu virus has killed at least 64 people in Asia since the end of 2003 and was detected in Eastern Europe last month. In Indonesia alone, nine people are confirmed to have contracted the virus in the past 10 months, with five of them dying. Two more suspected fatalities will be confirmed by the World Health Organization laboratory in Hong Kong this month.

Susilo said the Greater Jakarta had become the government's initial focus because four of the five people who died of bird flu had lived in the area.

He dismissed criticism of the government's slow response in containing the outbreak. The international community had praised Indonesia's efforts addressing the problem, considering its limited financial resources, Susilo said.

Despite an unspecified financial offer by World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz to help Indonesia conduct a mass cull, Susilo said "stamping out (the disease) would not be easy as it would need billions of rupiah".

According to a report from the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 30 million village households in Indonesia are keeping around 200 million chickens, excluding wild birds, increasing the risk for a deadly pandemic.

Meanwhile, Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari said the government also planned to vaccinate 40 million children against seasonal cold and influenza viruses, in order to reduce their risk of infection.

"We are planning to increase the production of an upgraded flu vaccine, which will be sold at a cheaper price. This is to help prevent people suffering from a common flu from getting the avian influenza virus," she said.

She added the government planned to increase the country's stocks of flu medicines, including Tamiflu and Relenza, from 750,000 pills to about 20 million.

The government's plan to contain bird flu:
1. Deploying troops and volunteers to conduct door-to-door searches for infected poultry.
2. Forming a special desk at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare, which will be tasked with monitoring the development of the outbreak in the country around the clock.
3. A national campaign on bird flu aimed at increasing public awareness about the dangers and symptoms of the virus. 4. Increasing the supply of influenza vaccines and pills from the current 750,000 to 20 million and starting negotiations with overseas producers.
5. Ordering state pharmaceutical firm PT Bio Farma to produce the vaccines.
6. Vaccinating some 40 million children above five years old from seasonal influenza.
7. Improving cooperation between the government and local administrations in containing the avian influenza and educating the public.
8. Providing enough protective equipment for hospitals.
9. Raising next year's allocated fund for bird flu containment. Based on the 2006 state budget, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health will receive Rp 200 billion (US$20 million) and Rp 150 billion, respectively, next year.
10. Seeking overseas grants for financing the virus' containment.