Indonesia Orders Hospitals To Take Dengue Patients - 260 Dead So Far

[hatrack]

JAKARTA - President Megawati Sukarnoputri urged hospitals across Indonesia Thursday to accept patients suffering from dengue fever regardless of their ability to pay.


At least 260 people have died this year of the disease which strikes annually, starting in January and peaking in May or June. But the toll so far is more than double that at the same time last year.
More than 14,000 people are infected, with most hospitals full, leaving poor patients scrambling for treatment. Most Indonesians do not have health insurance and the poor have slim access to quality medical care.

EDIT

Babies are among the many sufferers who cannot get proper beds and lie on military-style mattresses in packed hospital corridors waiting to be checked by overworked doctors. Health minister Ahmad Sujudi said his office was trying to halt the outbreak, in which "the number of infected people is three times higher than the average number a year before."

"But the efforts from the government will not be enough," Sujudi told reporters after he and other officials donated blood for dengue patients. Megawati and her ministers have urged the public to help fight the disease by cleaning their neighborhoods."

EDIT

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/24032/story.htm

[jmcgowanjm]

1. to help fight the disease by cleaning

And they'll have to clean their neighborhoods
by hand because Indonesia is a net importer of oil
now. Look for them to get kicked out of OPEC soon.