Dengue patients flood hospitals

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 01/26/2007 3:46 PM

Nana Rukmana and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, Malang

An outbreak of dengue fever continues intensifying in the country, with hundreds of patients being admitted to hospitals in a number of endemic cities, especially Cirebon in West Java and Malang in East Java.

Gunung Jati Hospital, the biggest hospital in Cirebon, had treated at least 300 dengue fever patients as of Thursday.

Hospital spokesman Haris Sutisna said Thursday that patients were being treated in the hallways.

""We're forced to put them in the halls because there is not enough room for them,"" Haris said. Since the hospital's 273 beds were all taken, the overflow patients were sleeping on temporary beds, he added.

Dengue fever is endemic in Cirebon, which generally experiences outbreaks during the annual rainy season. Poor sanitation around residential areas has also been blamed for the disease.

In Malang regency, a 6-year-old boy has died of dengue, according to Malang Regional Hospital director Agus Wahyu Arifin. He added that the hospital was treating 47 other patients for the disease.

""The boy died because his condition was very serious when he was admitted to the hospital. Therefore his life could not be saved,"" Agus said.

Data at the Malang Health Office showed there were 418 cases of dengue fever in the regency last year, with nine deaths. There were 402 patients in 2005, of whom two died.

The surge in cases has overwhelmed the regency-owned hospital. Many patients have been sent to Syaiful Anwar Hospital in Malang city.

The Malang health office has classified nine of the 33 districts in the city as prone to dengue fever outbreaks.

Dengue is considered endemic in these areas because similar outbreaks have taken place each year for the last three years, according to the office.

Throughout Indonesia, dengue fever has killed at least 35 people and infected some 3,000 so far this year, health officials said on Thursday. They warned that the seasonal outbreak had not yet peaked.

""The dengue outbreaks this year have only infected some 3,000 people across the country, much less than last year's 18,000, but there is no cause to rejoice yet,"" Rita Kusriastuti of the health ministry's dengue team said as quoted by AFP.

""The rainy season is far from over.""

She said the late arrival of the rain this year was one reason for the lower number of infections.

Meanwhile, the Bantul regency has offered a prize of Rp 100 million (US$10,526) to any village that remains free of the disease this year.

Gendut Sudarta, secretary of the regency, said that the prize was aimed at curbing the spread of dengue.

""Health costs will be much lower if there are preventive measures,"" said Gendut. ""A fund of Rp 100 million is relatively small for maintaining health in one village. If one village is affected, Rp 100 million is inadequate to handle it.""

Additional reporting from Slamet Susanto in Bantul, Yogyakarta.

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