Shocking report on bird flu

Shocking report on bird flu

The comment made by a special UN team sent to help Indonesia
fight bird flu warning that the country had not done enough to
contain the virus (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 8) really shocked me.

Meanwhile, a World Bank report, obtained by Reuters said a
previous study on flu pandemics had suggested that any new
pandemics could cause between 100,000 and 200,000 human deaths in
United States alone, which it said translated into economic
losses for the country of between US$100 billion and $200 billion
(Post, Nov. 8, page 12).

My questions regarding the above problem are: Why is Indonesia
not taking the bird flu issue seriously? Is it because we lack
the medical expertise or researchers who are interested in this
pandemic? Are the doctors in this country too busy treating
common diseases? Has the Ministry of Health allocated a large
enough budget for research into the bird flu virus.

I wonder what would happen to Indonesia if the virus claimed
as many victims as described above. considering the fact that
Indonesia is a poor country.

ODO FADLOELI, Bandung