DUMAI RESIDENTS SUFFER FROM RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS DUE TO HAZE

Dumai, Riau Province, July 10 - Thousands of Dumai residents are suffering from respiratory problems (ISPA) as they have had to inhale haze continuously over the past one month.

"From June to the first week of July 2009, Dumai residents suffer from ISPA and are reported to the local health service is 2,663 people. The number of ISPA sufferers has increased due to the haze," Marjoko Santoso, head of the Dumai health service's environmental health and disease control unit, told ANTARA here on Friday.

The haze covering Dumai over the past two months came from forest and plantation fires, he said.

In Dumai, some 2,028 people suffered from coughing and flu, 38 from pneumonia, 36 asthma, 30 eye irritation, 263 skin irritation, and 68 conjunctivitis, he said.
"The ISPA disease this year is significant, per week around 500 patients, bringing the number to 2,663 people," he said.

Before the haze problem, there were about 400 patients of ISPA per month, but now the number has increased significantly especially among children, he said.

He urged local inhabitants to stay at home and not to go out if it is not urgent.

"The people should not go out if it is not urgent, and if they have to go out, please use face masks as the haze is extraordinary tick this morning, and we can hardly see the roads," Marjoko said.

The haze has reduced visibility to only five meters on Friday morning.

Haze has forced the closure of airports in Pekanbaru and Dumai, Riau Province, several times over the past two months. The latest airport closure occurred on Thursday (July 9, 2009) at Pinang Kampi airport in Dumai City as haze reduced visibility to less than 300 meters. On May 26, 2009, a number of elementary schools were closed due to haze covering Rokan Hilir, Riau Province.