Drills to test pandemic preparedness

Emmy Fitri , The Jakarta Post , Jembrana | Sat, 04/26/2008 12:01 PM | Headlines

Jembrana regency in Bali is hosting a three-day avian influenza pandemic simulation involving nearly 1,000 people to try out the newly completed National Pandemic Preparedness Plan.

Jembrana Regent I Gede Winasa said it was an honor to host the international event, which started Friday. The simulation is a response to fears avian influenza virus H5N1 could evolve and turn into a pandemic strain through human to human transmission.

"Jembrana will never stop innovating. Hopefully, with this simulation, we can contribute something to the world. We hope a pandemic will not really strike," said Winasa.

Home to 260,000 people, Jembrana is a two hour drive west of Denpasar. The village hosting the simulation, Dangin Tukad Daya, reported two fatalities from bird flu last year.

First reported in Hong Kong in 1997, bird flu has claimed 137 lives worldwide, 107 in Indonesia. Indonesia has culled millions of chickens in at least 30 provinces, severely affecting the country's poultry industry.

Kicking off the first day of the simulation Friday, the Health Ministry's director general for communicable disease control, I Nyoman Kandun, said Indonesia had taken fundamental steps to control the spread of avian influenza in the country since its first reported human infection in 2005.

The steps, he said, included disease control in animals, protection for high-risk groups, epidemiology surveillance for humans and animals, restructuring the poultry industry, risk communication and research.

Kandun said bird flu should not merely be the concern of the health sector, but must be addressed across the board with concerted efforts.

"It's high time for us to test our preparedness by involving all sectors and the public so we can all learn. With this simulation, we can show the world we mean what we say -- we're prepared," Kandun said.

"In an old Indonesian saying, we're sedia payung sebelum hujan (putting up our umbrellas before it rains)," he said.

The three-day simulation costs US$500,000 and is funded by Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The pandemic simulation began with a villager visiting a community health center complaining of a prolonged cold and respiratory problems. Several residents were reported to have similar symptoms. An investigation team from the local health agency was deployed to detect the possible spread of the virus by checking residents' temperatures.

The village was then sealed off to prevent the virus from spreading. Police and military officers were deployed to bar people from entering or leaving the village. In the meantime, the local administration set up a makeshift hospital on a soccer field to treat patients with anti-viral prophylaxis or oseltamivir, effective in tempering the early onset of avian influenza.

In Saturday's simulation, people will be referred to Tabanan Hospital in Tabanan and later Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar for further treatment.

On the last day, staff at the airport will simulate thermal scans on all people entering and leaving the airport and will spray their vehicles with disinfectant.

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