Nothing done to fight malaria

Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Purwokerto

A malaria outbreak that has killed more than 100 people in Central Java in recent months has continued its deadly spread through the Banyumas regency with local officials doing nothing to stop it.

The surprising death toll prompted Minister of Health Ahmad Sujudi to visit the worst hit town of Banyumas last month where he pledged to help provide one ton of insecticide, valued at Rp 500 million, to kill the malaria virus-carrying mosquitoes.

The promised insecticide has reportedly arrived in Banyumas, but local health officials say they can not distribute it as the costs, estimated at Rp 189 million, were prohibitive.

Data from the Commission E of the Banyumas legislative council shows that at least 107 people were killed by malaria at 17 villages in Banyumas. It has also infected thousands of others.

The Banyumas health office, however, said the death toll stood at only 13 people.

Local health officials said the number of people infected by malaria in the 17 villages, in the subdistricts of Somagede, Tambak, Sumpiuh and Kemranjen, had risen due to the absence of effective measures to fight against the disease.

There was no exact figures of more deaths, however.

Eko Nurdiyanto, head of the Somagede community health center, confirmed recently the rise in the number of villagers suffering from malaria.

"An average of four people come to Puskesmas in Kemawi village every day to get their health checked for malaria. At other health centers others are also doing the same," he told The Jakarta Post.

Andi Yono, an official in charge of dealing with contagious diseases at the Banyumas health office, also confirmed malaria cases were on the rise.

"Based on reports filed to us that there have no signs of a decrease. The number of sufferers is tending to be on the increase," he told the Post.

Choerul Mufied, head of the Banyumas health office, said last month that the government would soon move to spray the affected villages.

But up to now, nothing has been done to kill mosquitoes.

The absence of any steps to eradicate mosquitoes has caused doctors in villages to worry about the further spread of malaria, which later could increase the death toll.

"The spraying medicine assistance is still stuck at the Banyumas district health office and has not arrived here yet. I don't know why," Eko said.

Yono said the distribution of the medicine was hampered by a shortage of funds to finance the costs of buying spraying equipment, and the subsequent operating costs.

"For operational costs we need at least Rp 39 million and the central government has yet to provide the promised funding," he said.

The funds were enough to cover the costs of spraying 15,000 houses in the four malaria-hit subdistricts, Yono added.

"Apart from that, we also need 100 spraying units that cost around Rp 1.5 million each."

Though the local health office continued to provide widespread treatment for malaria sufferers in 17 villages, the move was not effective in reducing case numbers, he said.

"If the number of sufferers rises, it is normal because ...the source of the disease (mosquitoes) is not killed," Yono said.

Musadad Bikrie, head of the local legislature's commission E, criticized the government's reported sluggish moves in eradicating the deadly tropical disease.

"If it is true that the government has not taken a measure yet to kill the disease, it's too much. They (government officials) have no sense of crisis in dealing with the case," he said.

Musadad, who first revealed the death toll of 107 people, said that with the absence of measures to halt its spread, the number of sufferers was expected to rise to more than 15,000 people.

He said that malaria had previously attacked more than 10,000 villagers per month since January.