One dies as dengue cases keep rising in Jakarta
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A 13-year-old girl died of dengue fever on Saturday, four days after being admitted to Tarakan Hospital in Central Jakarta, as the number of dengue fever cases in the capital continued to rise.
Maesyaroh, who lived in Kebon Melati, Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, died at 8:30 a.m. in the intensive care unit.
"Her condition continued to worsen Friday evening. After several hours of intensive treatment, she died on Saturday morning. Besides dengue, the girl also had lung problems," said Henry Manik, a hospital spokesman.
Jakarta Health Agency spokesman Evy Zelfino said the number of dengue cases in the capital was continuing to rise, and hospitals were beginning to run out of rooms for patients.
She said that as of Saturday, over 17,000 patients had been treated for dengue this year at the city's hospitals, with 78 reported deaths.
"Despite efforts to curb the source of the disease, the number of cases continues to rise because of the rainy season. We will continue to monitor the situation and urge people to take preventive measures," she told The Jakarta Post.
With more people seeking treatment for dengue, hospitals are being forced to treat patients in beds set up in the corridors.
Sixty-one patients were being treated at Budi Asih Hospital as of Saturday, with at least 31 of these patients in beds set up in corridors.
Persahabatan and Pasar Rebo hospitals, both in East Jakarta, are also struggling to accommodate all of the dengue patients seeking care. Dozens of patients at the two hospitals are being treated in the corridors.
The number of dengue patients at Pasar Rebo Hospital shot up to 81 on Sunday, from 70 on Saturday.
The hospital said it was admitting more than 10 new dengue patients every day.
Despite the rise in cases, Evy said the administration had not declared the situation an emergency.
"We have our own criteria for declaring an emergency situation," she said.
The administration's official policy is to declare an emergency if 15 to 20 new cases of a particular disease are reported daily. Upon declaring an emergency, the administration will allocate funds and take special steps to halt the spread of the disease, including educating the public and distributing medicine.
"We have asked the people to drain their open tanks, cover water tanks and bury old cans. They need to spend 30 minutes each Friday doing this. If they do this consistently we can stop the spread of dengue," she said.
Dengue fever is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which breeds in still, clean water.
The Jakarta Health Agency recorded 18,000 cases of dengue last year, with about 82 deaths, mostly children.
The highest number of cases occurred in February and March, when over 5,000 people were infected.
According to data from the agency, the number of cases of dengue fever in Greater Jakarta hit a high of 15,360 in 1998, 3,998 in 1999, 8,729 in 2000, 8,820 in 2001, 5,750 in 2002 and 14,071 in 2003.