Polio sufferers in dire need of help

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Sukabumi

Fikri Ramdani, just 19-months-old, has lost a toddler's joy since contracting polio two months ago. He cries all the time as he suffers from recurring bouts of high fever and frustratingly hits his legs that have become too weak to kick a ball.

"Like most kids, Fikri was able to walk by the age of one year, and he could run well not long after. He likes to play soccer with his friends. But every time he sees his friends playing soccer, he hits his own legs or hits his parents," said Fikri's mother Yayat, 30, at her modest home in Cidadap hamlet, on the foot of Mount Salak about 110 kilometers southwest of Bandung.

Even though he can move his toes, both his legs are limp and he cannot stand straight or walk normally anymore. Difficulties in moving have spread to his shoulders and left arm.

Yayat said the initial symptoms he experienced was a high fever, which he suddenly caught two months ago.

After three days of suffering from the fever, and with little money to spare, she reluctantly decided to take Fikri to a doctor in Parung Kuda village, about seven kilometers from home.

"The doctor told me to take him to Sekarwangi hospital in Cibadak, but I had no money. We barely have enough money for food on our table, let alone for medicine," said Yayat at her home, which does not even have basic facilities. They have to relieve themselves and bathe in a nearby pond as most of their neighbors do.

The fever subsided after she gave her son some medicine prescribed by the doctor. But it later returned and his parents had to take him to another doctor.

After two weeks of confusion over her son's illness, a medical worker from the Sukabumi health office arrived and examined Fikri's condition.

Since then, Fikri's house has been frequented by health workers from the West Java health office and the Ministry of Health, as well as a number of foreign health workers.

"His legs were examined and fecal samples were taken. They say Fikri has polio," said his father Mumuh Majmudin, 35, who sells coconut drinks at the Cicurug railway station in Sukabumi.

Muhamad Lutfi, an 8-month-old baby, who lives about 300 meters from Fikri's house, is also believed to have contracted the polio virus, which has reemerged in the country after lying dormant for nearly 10 years.

Muhamad's mother Endah Sumiati, 25, said that before her son's left leg became weak and he began showing signs of difficulties in moving two months ago, he had a high fever for four days.

Like Fikri, the doctor also suggested Lutfi be sent to Sekarwangi hospital in Cibadak to get medical care. But his father, a menial laborer, could not afford it.

"We instead took him to get a massage in Cicurug. The massage fee was Rp 20,000 (US$2.20), the herb concoction cost Rp 20,000 transportation expenses were Rp 14,000. His legs are not too weak now. But how do I find the money for more and regular massage therapy?" asked Endang.

Girijaya village chief Ija R. Alamsyah said that in addition to Fikri and Lutfi, there were two other victims, aged nine and 15 years old, suffering from similar symptoms after having a bout of high fever for several days.

The head of the environmental health care division at the West Java health office, Fatimah Resmiati, said the preliminary test results showed that the sufferers were infected by a "foreign polio virus", possibly from Yemen or Sudan.

She acknowledged that around 20 percent of the children below the age of five in West Java had not been immunized for various reasons such as a lack of money or knowledge.

The parents of Fikri and Lutfi acknowledged that they had never vaccinated their children.

Free polio immunizations were provided by local health workers, supported by the World Health Organization, two weeks ago for all the children in the area.

Data from the village administration office shows that the number of very poor people is 1,532 out of the 6,389 people living in the village.

The villagers have not received the promised government funds for medical care, that were to be provided for very poor families.

Girijaya village, which can only be reached by a gravel road, is only seven kilometers from the largest bottled water company in the country and several other similar companies.

Those companies have reportedly siphoned off billions of cubic meters of clean water from the Babakan Pari spring, which makes the district the highest revenue-earner in Sukabumi regency.