Following the rabies outbreak that claimed 24 lives last year, Sang-lah Hospital has expressed its preparedness to treat more patients with emergency diseases this year.
In commemoration of Sanglah’s 50th anniversary recently, hospital director I Wayan Sutarga said it would require more comprehensive measures to treat deadly diseases, especially rabies and HIV/AIDS.
“The prevalence of rabies and HIV/AIDS has continued to increase. As of the end of 2009, the cost of providing free VAR [the anti-rabies vaccine] to patients treated at Sanglah Hospital alone reached
Rp 6.2 billion,” Sutarga stressed.
The cost was shouldered by the provincial administration, which allocated funds from its annual budget to finance rabies-mitigation efforts.
The hospital provides initial dosages of VAR to 33 patients and booster vaccines to 25 patients on a daily basis, he said.
As of Dec. 30, the hospital had given 19,206 injections of VAR.
The hospital has treated 43 patients suspected of contracting rabies, 22 of whom died.
For HIV/AIDS, the hospital currently provides care, support and treatment services for 11 patients per day.
The hospital has assured that HIV/AIDS patients are now entitled to receive treatment in any room at the hospital in order to eliminate discrimination and accommodate the increasing number of patients.
Sutarga also warned the government of other diseases emerging in Bali, including influenza caused by the H1N1 and H5N1 viruses.
Out of 86 suspects of H1N1 treated at the hospital, 63 tested positive. The H5N1 virus has so far claimed two lives in Bali.
As the prevalence of these tropical diseases is estimated to increase, Sutarga called on the government to design better funding strategies.
He said the provincial administration had just launched a free health care program that covered all registered residents of the island.
“However, the local administration is usually quite slow in fulfilling its financial obligation to the hospital. This free health care program will pose a problem for the hospital,” he said.
