Most pharmacies have run out of masks

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Most pharmacies in Jakarta have no stocks of the masks recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for protecting people from contracting Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

A 24-hour pharmacy on Jl. Salemba Raya, Central Jakarta, only had two kinds of masks, one for personal healthcare use and another that is usually bought by people going on the haj pilgrimage to protect them from air pollution.

Still, a storekeeper told The Jakarta Post that their sales of masks had increased by 200 percent recently, with an average of 500 masks being sold per day. A pack of eight is worth between Rp 3,500 (4 U.S. cents) and Rp 8,500.

A. Chalik Masulili, head of the city health agency, said on Thursday that the type of mask that was needed to protect a person against the highly contagious SARS virus was an N-95, type 8210.

"But at the moment, the required masks are difficult to find in Jakarta. Most have been supplied by WHO and in very limited numbers. Priority is being given to officials at entry points and healthcare workers in hospitals," he said.

The required masks must be able to filter out particles as small as one micron, have good respiratory functions and only allow one-way inhalation.

However, Chalik said that an ordinary mask could help as the air inhaled would still be filtered to a certain degree.

He added that the government had no plan to import the N-95 masks.

As a further precaution against the spread of the virus, the city health agency designated two more hospitals as SARS centers: the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) in Central Jakarta and the Fatmawati Hospital in South Jakarta.

These hospitals will join the two others that were earlier designated as SARS centers: the Sulianti Saroso Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Sunter, North Jakarta, and the Persahabatan Hospital in East Jakarta.

According to Chalik, four isolation rooms and one intensive care unit (ICU) are available in the RSCM and Persahabatan hospitals, while 14 isolation rooms are available in the Sulianti Saroso Hospital. At the present time, the facilities in the Fatmawati Hospital are not yet operational.

Patients who are suspected of suffering from SARS should be treated in an isolation room with a separate bathroom and ventilation. They should also wear a mask at the least until declared SARS-free.

A 24-hour hotline to the city health agency is available at (021) 3483-5118. The latest information on the disease in the city can be obtained at this number.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sardikin Giriputro of the Sulianti Saroso Hospital admitted that some constraints were still being felt in most hospitals in Jakarta because of the limited facilities available and inadequate protection for health workers, which made them reluctant to become involved.

Three persons are at present suspected of having SARS in Jakarta. A mother and her daughter who just arrived back from a holiday in Singapore are now receiving treatment in the Sulianti Saroso Hospital, as is a former migrant worker from Taiwan who arrived here on Tuesday afternoon. The migrant worker was later sent to the Sulianti Saroso Hospital, but she refused to be treated and went home to her hometown in Subang, West Java.

On Monday, a woman with SARS-like symptoms died in the Islamic Hospital in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta.

"But they have not yet tested positive for SARS. We are still waiting for the blood sample test results from Atlanta in the U.S.," said Chalik. "So thus far we can state that we have had no SARS cases in Indonesia."

Chalik also warned people to stay calm and not panic.