RI issues moderate SARS alert to health centers, officers

RI issues moderate SARS alert to health centers, officers

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Amid rising global fears over the rapid spread of the Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), health officials at airports
and seaports throughout the country still leave it to passengers'
good conscience to report whether or not they have symptoms of
the disease.

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a travel
advisory on March 15 to and from SARS-prone countries such as
Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Vietnam, the government has only
released to hospitals and health officials a letter on standard
operating procedures in dealing with SARS-infected people,
especially to medical workers at airports and seaports.

Health officials at ports have to distribute health alert
cards issued by the Ministry of Health to passengers and flight
crew from SARS-prone countries.

The cards contain general information on SARS symptoms, such
as a high fever of over 38 degrees Celsius, coughing, difficulty
in breathing and muscular aches, as well as what to do if the
card recipients happen to have these symptoms.

Health officials at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport have
since March 17 distributed such cards to passengers suspected of
having SARS.

Since Saturday, however, health officials have started
distributing health cards to all passengers coming from
Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Vietnam.

"Since the global number of SARS cases is increasing rapidly,
we started to implement these particular measures on Saturday.
Previously, we distributed the cards only to passengers who
seemed to have the symptoms," said Herbagyanto Purnomo, head of
the airport health clinic.

The cards urged recipients to immediately report to nearby
hospitals if they fell ill. "We expect the recipients to feel
responsibility in reporting to health officials," he added.

Jakarta receives at least 900 passengers from Singapore, Hong
Kong, China and Vietnam everyday.

Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar, Bali, which receives about
1,000 travelers from SARS-prone countries everyday, has also
implemented the same measures. "Since March 20, we have
distributed cards to all passengers arriving from Singapore,
Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Thailand and Taiwan," Dr. Mardiyani
told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

"We recommend those showing SARS symptoms to immediately
undergo a health check with us. If the symptoms are similar to
those of SARS, we will refer them to Sanglah Hospital. But so
far, no case has been reported," she said.

She added that health officials could not check each passenger
closely, because she thought they would feel annoyed. "We don't
want to be considered as violating human rights."

At Polonia Airport in Medan, North Sumatra, health officials
have established a medical surveillance post to observe
passengers arriving from Singapore, Hong Kong and China.

As the passengers reach the immigration counter, Polonia
health officials scrutinize them carefully to detect any
passengers showing any SARS symptoms who would then be given
health cards.

Meanwhile, head of the health clinic at Belawan seaport of
Medan, Syahril Aritonang, said besides checking arriving
passengers, health officials there also studied freightship crew
from Hong Kong and Singapore, who frequent the seaport.

"We will further examine passengers suspected of SARS
infection, and will quarantine those who have been diagnosed with
SARS," he said.

At the same time, Puardi Djarius, head of the health agency in
Batam, Riau, told the Post that his administration had issued a
travel advisory to residents. "Traveling to Singapore is not
recommended," he said.

The distance between Batam and Singapore, where 86 people have
been infected and two have died so far, is only 20 km.

He said officials closely examined Singaporeans who traveled
to Batam on the weekend. "We cannot ban them from coming here, so
we study them, just in case any of them are showing symptoms of
SARS," he said.

Meanwhile, in response to increasing rumors of Indonesians who
have died from or have been diagnosed with SARS, director general
Umar Fahmi Achmadi at the communicable diseases department of the
Ministry of Health told the Post on Saturday that so far, no
confirmed cases had been reported.

"As of 7:15 a.m. on Saturday, no SARS case has been
confirmed," said Umar, who has recently been making rounds to
Jakarta hospitals, following up on any rumors of a possible SARS
case.