W. Java recruits students in fight against dengue

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Cirebon/Padang

Thousands of students will be deployed to clean up housing complexes near their schools to help curb the spread of dengue fever.

Cirebon deputy mayor Agus Al Wafier said on Tuesday the students would take part in the government's dengue fever eradication program after classes.

"It is one of our efforts to fight the disease," Agus said.

West Java is among the hardest hit areas by dengue. In the Cirebon municipality alone, 31 people have been hospitalized with dengue since January, with one death.

The head of the municipality's dengue prevention team, Ano Sutrisno, said 37,000 elementary school students had been trained to destroy the larvae of the Aedes aegepti mosquito, which carries the disease. Some 10,000 junior high school students and 10,000 high school students are also expected to take part in the program.

The government has declared the dengue outbreak this year an extraordinary occurrence, announcing that it will cover the medical costs of poor dengue patients.

More than 19,000 people across the country have been infected with dengue since January, with over 370 killed.

More towns across the country reported on Tuesday an increase in the number of their dengue fever cases, with hospitals warning of shortages of blood and medicine.

In the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu, all hospitals reported that they continued to admit new dengue patients daily, many of them required intensive treatment and relatively long hospital stays.

"Everyone should remain alert to the current situation and prevent it from becoming an epidemic," Palu Health Agency head Abdullah was quoted as saying by Antara.

Abdullah said 17 people had been hospitalized with dengue fever in January, and that number had increased to 39 people this month with two deaths.

As a result of the increasing number of dengue cases, many hospitals across the country are warning of shortages of medicine and blood.

The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, said blood shortages could endanger dengue patients.

"We call on people, especially civil servants in the Mataram municipality, to donate blood," Mataram Information and Communication Office head Bodan Wisnujati said on Tuesday.

Wisnujati said that last week, 187 civil servants had donated blood, but said more was needed because of the high number of dengue cases.

He said 87 people had been hospitalized with dengue since January, with one death.

In West Sumatra, 164 people have been hospitalized with dengue since January; 145 of them in Padang, 10 in Pesisir Selatan, five in Padang Pariaman, three in Sawahlunto Sijunjung, and one in Solok.

The high number of dengue cases in Padang is believed to have been caused by the poor drainage in the city.