W

ir, the father of a 10-year-old boy suspected of contracting the H1N1 strain of the influenza A virus, was furious Monday when he complained to Sanglah General Hospital staff about a breach of his son's privacy.

"How could a newspaper print the name of my boy?" he said.

He added an employee at the hospital's PR department might have been responsible for leaking the information to the press.

Monday's edition of a local morning daily ran a story on the spread of H1N1 across the island.

The story named in full all the suspected H1N1 patients currently being treated at the hospital's Nusa Indah ward for tropical contagious diseases.

Wir said reading his son's name in the paper was disturbing, adding he was worried the news coverage could lead to his son being socially isolated by his friends and neighbors.

"And he might be too scared to return to school, fearing his friend will see him as the carrier of a dangerous disease," he said.

Wir pointed out his concern was not unfounded.

He cited the story of another suspected H1N1 patient, who after being discharged from the hospital, found himself ostracized by his neighbors.

He ended his protest by demanding the hospital not release the identities and addresses of patients to the press in future.

Hospital spokesman Ken Wirasandhi said the hospital had never released such confidential information.

"We've never released the identities of patients suspected of having H1N1, including Wir's son, to the press," he said.

"Yet somehow the reporters still managed to get that classified information."

He admitted past experiences showed patients' relatives were concerned about how their neighbors would treat the patient once they had completed their treatment and made a recovery.

"The general public views H1N1 simply as a dangerous and highly contagious disease," he said.

"There is no merit to that point of view."

Ken confirmed there had been one recorded case of a patient being ostracized and discriminated against by others in his community, after they found out he had had the H1N1 flu.

"His neighbors didn't visit him and avoided any direct contact with him, despite the fact the patient had recovered fully from the infection," he said.

He added this kind of stigma being attached to H1N1 patients was the result of a lack of public education about the disease.

"Educational campaigns on H1N1 in Bali are insufficient and fail to generate a comprehensive awareness among the public," Ken said.

He called on the public to realize that patients infected with H1N1 could make a full recovery following intensive treatment, and that the health authority still had the disease under control.

Sanglah General Hospital is now treating nine patients, including two Australians and one Singaporean.