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Original Message -----
From: BaliSOS.com - Coordinator
To: Bali Recovery Group
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 00:18
Subject: SARS Prevention: Bali Update & Funding Request
SARS - Bali Update and Funding Request
As of today April 6, 2003, some SARS cases
in Indonesia have been reported by media and officials, none
confirmed by WHO, none of them on Bali.
Information:
SARS Prevention on Bali
Health Department officials,
governmental clinicians, doctors, nurses and NGOs are joining
efforts to restrain SARS infected people from entering
Bali.
Three coordinating Crisis
Centers (Posko) have been set up to manage the situation and
handle problems.
They are in the Health Department
(Dinas Kesehataan), Sanglah Hospital and at the International
Airport.
Urgently
required at Hospitals and at the Airport:
Protective equipment to
avoid infections and for proper triage.
Such equipment must meet
WHO standards.
Required are:
1. Face masks (Respirators,
N95 quality standard, for anyone in potential contact at entry
points and for SARS suspects)
2. Gloves and antiseptic
soap (or alcohol) for cleaning hands and faces after exposure
to travellers, travel documents or suspects.
3. Goggles (for initial
diagnostic evaluation)
4. Thermometers (for initial
diagnostic evaluation, should be disposable ones)
5. Caps and Gawns (for initial
diagnostic evaluation)
WHO reportedly supplied
only 1,000 N95 face masks to Indonesia last week, 300 of
these have been reported as being received on Bali.
100 masks were sent to the
airport, 200 masks were allocated to Sanglah Hospital. They
are all gone since April 4!
None of the above
WHO and CDC recommended protecive equipment is currently available
at entry points!
Even Sanglah Hospital
does not have anymore N95 face masks for SARS personnel, neither
gloves or goggles to spare!
Other Clinics in
Denpasar have zero stock of face masks or other equipment!
Only low quality local made
surgical face masks and small quantities of gloves are available
in pharmacies and clinics here since April 4.
Preventive
Measures currently taken by Authorities:
1.
Clinicians, Posko personnel
and airport workers have been briefed in personal discussions
and a leaflet in bahasa Indonesia has been produced by the health
department and circulated to clinics and Airline, Airport, &
Air Travel Personnel.
2.
Brochures with information
about SARS are made available for everyone entering Bali (Advice
for Travelers about SARS).
3.
Information booths with
multilingual assistants have been established at the international
Airport.
4.
Every passenger has to file
a declaration and let the authorities know his/her itinery
and address.
5.
Passengers who feel they
might suffer from SARS infection are being requested to report
themselves.
6.
At least 3 doctors and some
nurses are screening every incoming passenger for symptoms of
SARS related distress before they join the queue for immigration.
A second team does the same
job at the domestic Airport.
To date and to our best
knowledge, not a single passenger has reported himself to
the authorities as potentially SARS infected.
Urgently
Required Screening Improvements:
As it is rather likely that
most distressed persons suffering from cold syndrome are capable
of supressing symptoms for the short time they feel being observed
at point of entry, but rather unlikely that such symptoms may
be suppressed for the entire duration of an international flight,
cooperation between airlines and health department is essential.
Bali SOS recommended to
request airlines operating flights from endemic areas like Hongkong
or Singapore to have the flight personnel (attendants)
observe passengers for distress or cold symptoms.
Such passengers will be
requested to be the first to leave the plane after arrival and
doctors or nurses could bring them to the quarantine room for
diagnostic screening.
Naturally such a strategy
requires announcements by aircraft personnel in order to assure
everyone that measures are taken for security only and that
there is no reason for fear or panic.
Bali SOS Proposal
for protective & diagnostic equipment:
Allocate funds allowing
to purchase some equipment:
1,000 face masks (~EURO
3/unit, total € 3,000)
2,000 gloves (<EURO 1/pair,
total € 2,000)
1,000 disposable thermometers
(€ ?)
100 Goggles (may
be purchased from Dept. Store supplier, ordinary simple snorkeling
googles, € ?)
100 sets of gowns
and caps (€ ?)
500 sets of antiseptic
soap
Prices might be better than
estimated, suppliers for all material required are available
in Indonesia or within 2 hours of air flight.
Funds required should be
in the range of EURO € 8,000 - 10,000 or eqivalent in IDRp.
Bali SOS recommends to include
this fund request into the Agenda for the upcoming NGO meeting
on April 8, 2003.
A comiteé should be designated
by Bali Recovery Group to manage funds, evaluate needs, organize,
order and store the equipment and
Distribute to those
people in need of protective equipment directly and on a regular
base!
All the above information
has been gathered 1st hand by contacting all pharmacies and
clinics in Denpasar, airport personnel and health officials
directly by phone and by frequent visits to the airport since
April 3 to date.
All relevant authorities
in Dinas Kesehataan, Sanglah Hospital, PAP, BTA and immigration
are having daily contact with Bali SOS and have been given our
phone numbers for emergency requests.
I personally talked with
many airport personnel and explained SARS and their personal
risks as persons exposed to potentially contagous travellers,
doing my best to avoid or cure fear and panic already prevalent.
Bali SOS already started
to deliver very small quantities of masks and gloves to clinicians
and immigration workers at the airport.
Prints of original WHO and
CDC information regarding SARS has been handed over by Bali
SOS to the Airport Director, immigration officials and clinicians
at the Airport.
A complete list of responsible
and official contacts is available in our office.
Health Officials, Doctors,
nurses, Aiport Administration and Immigration are already doing
their very best.
Bureocratic ways are sometimes
slow and unable to cope with emergencies like this.
Let us please do our very
Best to help keeping Bali free from this new disease.
Bali is one of the regions
highest risk areas in regards to WHO and all human efforts to
contain SARS and prevent it from becoming a new global pandemic,
just another desease, the last thing mankind needs.
If SARS becomes community
spread on Bali and people from all over the planet return home
from vacations with an unwanted souvenir, we would have exactly
that!
Specially the Rural Health
Care System in Indonesia and Bali is far less advanced than
in Hongkong or Singapore.
We would face a mortality
rate of at least 5 - 15 % for the poor.
As another result Bali would
be out of tourist business for a long while - who wanted to
spent holidays on a desease stroken island?
Poverty and Misery for most
of the people here being the result....
Let this not happen please!
Support the authorities
and medics who are already working hard and sacrificing their
holidays!
Everyone of us is a responsible
human being !
The equivalent of just a
few thousand EURO could already make the difference!
Anyone who is ready, capable
and willing to fincance and organize supplies NOW,
please contact us anytime!
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