Buleleng slow to respond to possible swine flu outbreak

Alit Kartarahardja ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Singaraja   |  Sat, 05/02/2009 10:41 PM  |  Bali

The Buleleng administration has been criticized for its slow response to the possible outbreak of swine flu in the regency.

A number of pork traders in traditional markets in Singaraja complained that no action had been taken by officials to provide information or take precautions to deal with the possible outbreak.

"Up to the present, there have been no real actions or monitoring to check whether our meat is healthy. We really don't understand why they are not doing their jobs," Wayan Rai, one of the traders said, adding that they watched on the television that some other regencies like Denpasar and Badung were very active and aggressive in informing pig farmers and traders about swine flu.

Trader Luh Karsini said that many customers looked so frightened and confused asking whether the pork meat they sold was eatable.

"We do not complain about the fall in the sales of pork. What we need now is accurate information about the swine flu and the types of healthy meat that we can sell to the people," Karsini said. The average trader in a traditional market sells between 40 and 50 kilograms of pork a day.

Buleleng regency has a population of more than 300,000 pigs; there are a total of 1.3 million pigs in Bali.

"We remembered how the administration reacted so slowly during the outbreak of avian flu. They just came to the markets and farms only after the avian flu had already spread here," Rai recalled. Buleleng was hit hard by an outbreak of avian flu last year.

Responding to the people's calls, Dr. Made Pustaka, head of the Buleleng Health office, denied that the administration was reluctant to implement preventive measures.

"We are regularly monitoring the case. A few months ago we set up a special team to handle an outbreak of bird flu. Now, the team will also handle any possible swine flu outbreak," the doctor said.

According to Pustaka, as many as 20 community health centers across the regency are on alert. "We have experiences in dealing avian flu. We have also conducted a series of simulations on avian flu. We hope we can face the possible swine flu outbreak properly," Pustaka said.

He further called on people not to panic. "The most important steps are to keep houses, pig farms, especially the large-scale ones, clean; and vaccinate all pigs," he said.

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