Two city hospitals ready to handle potential bird flu cases

Two city hospitals ready to handle potential bird flu cases

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Persahabatan Hospital and Sulianti Saroso Hospital have prepared
medical teams and special rooms to treat possible bird flu cases.

The government has officially appointed the institutions as
referral hospitals in response to the recent deaths of three
Tangerang residents from the disease.

Persahabatan Hospital in East Jakarta, which is known for its
respiratory medical services, has prepared isolation rooms with
four beds.

"Rooms No. 1 and 10 on the first floor of Soka House, located
in the east part of the hospital complex, are provided for in-
patients receiving treatment from the special bird flu medical
team," said Any Reputrawati, the customer service head at
Persahabatan Hospital.

Any said a specialist in lung disease, Mukhtar Ikhsan, would
head the medical team.

Sulianti Saroso Hospital in North Jakarta, which is recognized
as a treatment center for infectious diseases, has set aside 20
patient rooms.

"The in-patient isolations rooms are ready and for really
severe cases we also have set up a network with other hospitals,
such as Koja and Persahabatan, in case the four intensive care
unit rooms we have are full," the deputy director of medical
services, Arie Bratasena, told The Jakarta Post.

He said any patient suspected of having bird flu would be
processed through the emergency room, where the hospital has
assigned lung specialist Sardikin Giriputro to lead the medical
team.

"If a patient with a suspected case of bird flu comes in
coughing without any sign of being short-winded, then they will
be sent directly to an isolation room. However, if the patient is
short-winded, then the patient will be sent to the intensive care
unit," Arie said.

Any of Persahabatan said a patient suspected of having been
infected with bird flu would be sent directly to an isolation
room to await the results of blood tests.

She said that as soon as a patient was received in the
emergency room, the patient's blood samples would be sent to an
American affiliated laboratory, the Naval Medical Research Unit
in East Jakarta, for testing.

The government confirmed on Wednesday the first fatalities of
bird flu in the country after tests on a man and his two children
who died this month showed they had the virus.

According to the World Health Organization, there have not
been any confirmed cases of person-to-person transfer of bird
flu. So far, all those who have been infected with the virus came
into contact with infected poultry or swine. (004)