ID :
58289
Thu, 04/30/2009 - 08:40
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/58289
The shortlink copeid
HEALTH MINISTER DENIES AFP REPORT ON SWINE FLU
Jakarta, Apr 29 (ANTARA) - Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari has denied a recent foreign news agency report that quoted her as saying the current swine flu pandemic was possibly man-made.
"What I did say was that we had better not engage in speculations (on what caused the outbreaks) when one of the journalists asked me about it," she said here on Wednesday in response to an AFP report which was picked up by many mass media including Antara news egency.
She also asked the media not to worsen the situation amid the spread of swine flu by publishing speculative and assumptive reports, adding it was better to focus on efforts to anticipate the spread of the virus.
Although no swine flu case had so far occurred in Indonesia, the government already had the capability to anticipate the spread of the virus, she said.
Since the first outbreak of bird flu in Indonesia in 2005, various steps had been taken by the government to overcome and anticipate the spread of the disease and the government would do the same thing in fighting swine flu, the minister said.
The government was preparing various supporting facilities, including public health centers, hospitals and laboratories in addition to establishing a disease surveillance network, a communication network among relevant agencies and providing health volunteers with training on how to overcome the spread of the virus.
"We made great progress in the handling of bird flu and conducting simulations on it. These capabilities can now also be used to anticipate other disease, including swine flu," she said.
The minister said the government still had enough medicines like antivirus oseltamivir which was an effective cure for swine flu.
"We don't need to worry too much about the disease but remain cautious because the H1N1 virus (that causes swine flu) caused a pandemic in 1918 in Spain in which tens of millions of people died," the minister said.
She further said people could help prevent the outbreak or spread of the disease by following a clean and healthy life style, for example by washing their hands before eating something and after defecating, minimizing contact with animals.
"What I did say was that we had better not engage in speculations (on what caused the outbreaks) when one of the journalists asked me about it," she said here on Wednesday in response to an AFP report which was picked up by many mass media including Antara news egency.
She also asked the media not to worsen the situation amid the spread of swine flu by publishing speculative and assumptive reports, adding it was better to focus on efforts to anticipate the spread of the virus.
Although no swine flu case had so far occurred in Indonesia, the government already had the capability to anticipate the spread of the virus, she said.
Since the first outbreak of bird flu in Indonesia in 2005, various steps had been taken by the government to overcome and anticipate the spread of the disease and the government would do the same thing in fighting swine flu, the minister said.
The government was preparing various supporting facilities, including public health centers, hospitals and laboratories in addition to establishing a disease surveillance network, a communication network among relevant agencies and providing health volunteers with training on how to overcome the spread of the virus.
"We made great progress in the handling of bird flu and conducting simulations on it. These capabilities can now also be used to anticipate other disease, including swine flu," she said.
The minister said the government still had enough medicines like antivirus oseltamivir which was an effective cure for swine flu.
"We don't need to worry too much about the disease but remain cautious because the H1N1 virus (that causes swine flu) caused a pandemic in 1918 in Spain in which tens of millions of people died," the minister said.
She further said people could help prevent the outbreak or spread of the disease by following a clean and healthy life style, for example by washing their hands before eating something and after defecating, minimizing contact with animals.
