No discrimination in local hospitals
No discrimination in local hospitals
JAKARTA (JP): The city health office will not ask hospitals in
Jakarta to provide special isolation rooms for AIDS patients in
an effort not to discriminate.
The Deputy Chief of the City Health Office, Aslan Lasman, told
The Jakarta Post and Antara yesterday that the city
administration has tried to put AIDS prevention in a context
which considers AIDS to be a common communicable disease, without
treating patients differently.
Aslan said that there is no need to establish special
hospitals for AIDS patients since the city administration and the
central government have applied an integrated prevention method,
which is being carried out by all health related offices in the
country.
However, Aslan said that special bedrooms will be provided to
all AIDS patients who are in advanced stages or who are dying
from various symptoms such as heavy bleeding, infections and
diarrhea.
"The reason is because the immune system of AIDS patients is
already low and we must protect them from any infections which
could occur if they were placed in a common room," Aslan said.
Aslan said that the isolation rooms are also meant to protect
other patients and hospital employees from the possible infection
from the tuberculosis virus.
Little knowledge
According to Aslan, the city's efforts to prevent AIDS from
spreading have also been hampered by health office employers who
have little knowledge of the deadly disease or of the standard
procedures on how to handle their patients.
He said that the increase in the number of people with AIDS
has dramatically increased from three people in 1987 to seven
people in 1990 and that the number is on the rise.
"The number keeps increasing. In 1991 there were eight people,
18 people in 1992, 23 people in 1993 and 22 more people as of
October this year," he said.
Based on the projection of the health ministry, Aslan said
that by the year 2005 there could be up to 400,000 to 800,000
AIDS cases in Indonesia.
Aslan said that Jakarta is especially prone to AIDS because of
its high rate of unemployment which tends to force many
undereducated women into prostitution, further spreading the
virus through sexual intercourse.
He said that the city administration has established a Jakarta
AIDS prevention commission. The commission has made many public
presentations and AIDS prevention campaigns which target people
who are considered to be in the high risks groups, such as
prostitutes, homosexuals and transvestites. (mas)