Medical Association for AIDS fights its own battle

Medical Association for AIDS fights its own battle

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): Tomorrow, the world will commemorate
International AIDS Day and reaffirm its commitment to fight
against the deadly syndrome.

Here, Indonesia's Medical Association for AIDS, the first of
its kind at home, fights its own battle, namely preparing doctors
to diagnose and treat Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

This is not easy because not many doctors or medical workers,
especially those in remote areas, have access to the necessary
medical facilities, or have adequate knowledge of the procedures.

Dr. Samsuridjal Djauzi, the association's chairman, drew
public attention to how the syndrome has now spread to vast
areas, from urban centers like Jakarta and Denpasar, to remote
places such as Merauke in the eastern-most province Irian Jaya.

The association is responsible for preparing doctors for
treating AIDS, and teaching them preventative measures so they do
not contract the Human Immunodefiency Virus (HIV), which causes
AIDS, from contact with patients.

"If doctors don't prepare themselves, who else will treat
people with AIDS?" Samsuridjal, who has been involved in anti-
AIDS campaigning since 1984, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

The association was founded on July 24, to help doctors better
understand AIDS. It also provides training on universal
precautions for safe medical treatments on people with AIDS.

The association, which is under the Indonesian Medical
Association (IDI), has about 200 members from a number cities,
including Bandung, Batam, Denpasar, Jakarta, Medan, Merauke,
Semarang, Surabaya, Ujungpandang and Yogyakarta.

"Doctors' reactions to the association has been good. Besides,
we send information to those who don't apply for membership
anyway," said Samsuridjal, medical advisor for the Pelita Ilmu
Foundation on AIDS.

"The association's biggest challenge is providing the 35,000
IDI doctors with the expertise to treat people with AIDS," the
51-year old doctor said.

Samsuridjal was recently in Merauke, a bustling port and
fishing town in southeast Irian Jaya, where he discovered three
unreported cases of full-blown AIDS.

On Nov. 19, during his visit to Batam, Riau, he discovered
that most of people with AIDS in the area were women. Of 22
reported cases of HIV and AIDS here, 21 of them were women.

He expressed his deepest concern about the situation.

"I think it's true that the number of people with HIV in the
country is much higher than that officially reported,"
Samsuridjal said. He said experts should conduct their own
surveys to discover the actual number of people with AIDS.

The Ministry of Health recorded that up to September this
year, 449 people either had AIDS or were HIV-positive. A total of
66 of them had died.

Samsuridjal called on everybody, from government officials,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) activists to doctors, to
get involved in the national drive against AIDS.

"Concrete action should be taken to prevent the spread of the
syndrome.... don't wait until it's too late," said Samsuridjal,
also a medical staff member at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital.

He called for attention to be given to the great number of
people who are vulnerable to the disease but do not have access
to information about it.

"There are people who don't know they have AIDS. There are
those who never heard of the syndrome or virus which causes it,"
he said.

He said there were areas in Indonesia which were more
vulnerable to an AIDS epidemic than others because of natural
factors. Merauke, for instance, is especially vulnerable because
most of the cases of infection were caused by frequent contact
between local people and foreign fishermen and seamen.

On a personal note, Samsuridjal said he sometimes became
desperate and felt ready to give up when faced by problems which
seem too big to handle.

"Whenever I feel that way, I suppress the thought immediately.
I know I should be optimistic and never give up because nothing
good will come from people who give up," Samsuridjal said.

One of the association's most important activities is a
monthly meeting with Spiritia, the only peer support group for
people with AIDS and for those who care for them.

"We're doing something new here because doctors, people with
AIDS, and those who care for them, cooperate in the treatment,"
Samsuridjal said.

He acknowledged the higher awareness of the problem among many
people, as shown by, among other things, the increased number of
people participating in activities held to commemorate
International AIDS Day.

"People's initial denial of the problem is diminishing," he
said happily.