H1N1 outbreak taints image of Islamic boarding schools: Cleric
Achmad Faisal, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya | Thu, 07/30/2009 7:44 PM
The Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) has asked the East Java government to intensify its campaign against the spread of the H1N1 virus, which has reportedly infected many students at Islamic boarding schools in the area.
Provincial NU leader, Hasan Mutawakkil Alallah, said Thursday that many people lacked knowledge about the virus, how it spreads, how it impacts the human body and how it can be treated.
He said media reports of Islamic boarding school students falling ill tarnish the image of the schools.
“Unfortunately this happens as we are admitting new students,” Hasan said, adding that the area’s Islamic boarding schools had long sustained amicable relations with local residents.
He said each Islamic boarding school had assigned a medical team and made an isolation room to take care of H1N1 patients.
There are hundreds of thousands of students who live and study in East Java’s 14,000 Islamic boarding schools.
Deputy Governor Syaifullah Yusuf said the provincial government had allocated Rp 2.5 billion (US$250,000) from the regional budget to deal with the virus. It has 55,000 doses of Oseltamivir, which he said were enough to cure H1N1 patients in the event of a pandemic.
