RI handles haze health problems
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Health and the Indonesian Pulmonologists Association have started measures to deal with health problems affecting some 240,000 people in haze-blanketed regions, an official said.
Minister of Health Sujudi pointed out yesterday the government has realized the magnitude of health problems caused by months of foul air and haze in twelve provinces affected by widespread forest fires, and has taken steps accordingly. Included in the government actions were public education on the importance of wearing protective masks and of seeking medical attention.
"For instance, the public needed to be told they.. can use wet handkerchiefs or towels (as masks), which are effective enough," Sujudi said after opening the second seminar on "proactive hospitals".
Through various clinics, the ministry has been monitoring the health condition of the worst affected areas, such as South Sumatra and Central Kalimantan. Tests have been conducted on residents who have a history of asthma, TB and other respiratory infections.
The government expected to maintain the monitoring for a year in order to ascertain the long-term ill effects of the haze.
In September, the ministry and the Kimia Farma pharmaceutical company sent 400,000 protective masks to affected areas. It also distributed 21,000 masks donated by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). The regions that received the masks were West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and East Kalimantan.
The ministry requested from the government a budget of approximately Rp 1 billion (US$285,700) for its program to fight the effects of the haze.
In its surveillance of air quality in eleven provinces, the ministry found South Sumatra as having been worst hit, followed by Central Kalimantan and West Sumatra.
According to the ministry's estimate, some 20,000 people in each of the 12 provinces it monitored (the above eight provinces plus North Sumatra, Bengkulu, Jakarta and another which the ministry did not name) were affected by haze-related respiratory problems.
Only half of all those people sought medical attention, the ministry said.
The ministry also estimated about 5,000 people in each of the provinces were suffering from eye irritation caused by the smoke, and again only half of them sought treatment.
The seminar on "proactive hospitals" that Sujudi opened yesterday was meant to prepare doctors and hospitals for various demographic changes that may bring health problems different from those existing now.
Some 300 hospital managers and health experts are participating in the two-day seminar which will also discuss the concept of telemedicine.
Telemedicine provides the opportunity for doctors in urban centers to use sophisticated telecommunications to consult with colleagues in remote areas regarding difficult medical cases. Plans are being made to expand the network to noted specialists in foreign countries such as Australia and Texas in the United States.
Sujudi said telemedicine would be applied in 1999, and three hospitals have already been considered as prepared for the program. They are Dr. Soetomo Hospital in Surabaya, East Java, Dr. Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung, West Java, and Dr. Wahidin Hospital in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi. (swe/09)