Malaria attacks Banyumas, death toll reaches 54 OR
10,000 people infected with malaria, 54 die
Agus Maryono The Jakarta Post Banyumas
Following flooding that hit Banyumas last November, malaria, a tropical disease transferred by the Aegypty mosquito, has afflicted more than 10,000 locals living in swampy areas in the regency and killed 54 during December.
Meanwhile, the malaria epidemic has caused serious concerns among tens of thousands of local people, who have demanded that the local administration take necessary measures to fight the disease.
According to data at the Banyumas Public Health Center, malaria has infected more than 10,000 locals, mostly in the Tambak, Sampiuh, Kemranjen, Banyumas and Somagede subdistricts.
In Sampiuh, more than 8,400 people tested positive for malaria, and by Saturday 19 had died.
M. Najib, chief of Sampiuh subdistrict, said malaria was on the rise in Bogangin, Selanegara, Banjarpanen and Ketanda villages.
"The four villages, which were inundated for months following the rainy season, are fertile swampy land for the breeding of Aegypty mosquitoes," he said.
He called on villagers to visit the public health center to undergo a medical test or to get medication in order to help wage a war against the easily transferable disease.
"We have deployed a medical team and health workers to launch an antimalaria campaign in all villages in the subdistrict," he said.
Daryo, chief of Sampiuh village, said most villagers were worried about the malaria epidemic and had called on the local administration to provide free medication to sufferers so as to stop the death toll from rising.
He said all people with malaria had the typical symptoms, like high fever and chills.
"Malaria has plagued hundreds of people in the village and thousands of others in other villages," he said.
In Kemranjen village, 27 people have died of malaria, with most of the dead victims passing away before obtaining medication because of a lack of funds. More than 4,000 others have symptoms of the disease.
"It is impossible for villagers to visit the public health center since they have no money because their paddy fields were damaged by the recent flood," Daroni, chief of the village, said.
Musadad Bikri'i Noor, a member of the Banyumas legislature's Commission E on social affairs, criticized the local administration's slowness in reacting to the epidemic.
"Besides being slow, the local administration has been not transparent in revealing victims of the epidemic. The most important thing is that all local people should be given malaria pills to help minimize the number of victims and the fast spread of the disease," he said.
He said he would ask the legislature to hold a hearing with the Banyumas regent to discuss the epidemic and would ask him to dismiss the chief of the local health ministry.
Meanwhile, Choerul Mufid, chief of the local health office, claimed that malaria had claimed the life of only one person over the past month.
"It's true that the number of people infected by the disease has reached more than 5,000, but only one of them died," he said.
He said his office would immediately offer medication to all malaria sufferers in all villages in the subdistrict.