[Kabar-indonesia] 'Significant' Rise in Lampung TB Cases: Health Group

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

The Jakarta Post
Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Lampung sees increase in number of TB cases 

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, 
Kalianda, South Lampung

A health group in Lampung warned Monday there had been a significant increase 
in the number of tuberculosis cases in South Lampung regency.

South Lampung Health Coalition (KULSS) chairwoman Lestari Sumali said the 
number of people with TB in the regency had risen to 1,920 as of this month from 
699 last year. 

Out of every 100,000 people in South Lampung, 160 are infected with TB, she 
said. 

"It's the duty of the regency administration, especially the health office, 
to work harder to prevent this disease from becoming a major cause of deaths," 
Lestari said. She added that her organization was ready to help related 
institutions work with TB patients to ensure they received the necessary care. 

A recent study by the World Health Organization found Lampung province 
trailed only North Sumatra and South Sumatra in terms of highest number of 
tuberculosis cases in the country. 

Lestari said the data on the number of TB cases in South Lampung regency came 
from teams of volunteers who had carried out surveys over the last 11 months. 

She said her organization and the regency administration were cooperating to 
get out information about the disease and how to prevent its spread and treat 
it. 

"Our volunteers will not hesitate to accompany TB sufferers to get medical 
treatment at nearby community health centers. South Lampung Regent Zulkifli 
Anwar has ordered workers at the health centers to always make themselves 
available to TB patients. Those refusing to do so will be reprimanded," she said. 

Lestari said that to help curb the spread of TB in South Lampung, her group 
was organizing training courses for volunteers. She said her organization had 
so far trained at least 400 volunteers who were ready to spread information 
about TB and to help sufferers get medical help. 

"We've targeted that South Lampung will be free of TB by 2010," she said, 
urging the local administration and legislative councillors to speed up the 
deliberation of regional regulations on TB prevention. 

Meanwhile, Evi Suryati, chairwoman of TB prevention projects in Lampung 
province, said the number of people with tuberculosis in Lampung was 111,739, 
including 12,855 in the provincial capital Bandarlampung. 

"TB is classified as endemic in Bandarlampung, with three areas identified as 
being the most prone to TB. Out of every 11 people in these three areas, 10 
are suffering from TB, the highest rate in Indonesia," Evi said. 

An executive at the South Lampung Health Coalition, Herdimansyah, said that 
despite the high rate of sufferers, the local administration continued to 
ignore the danger. 

"The proof is the trivial amount of money allocated in regional budgets to 
fight TB. Bandarlampung city, for example, allocates just Rp 45 million 
(US$4,732) a year to fight TB, while South Lampung only allocates Rp 12 million 
annually. Other regencies don't allocate anything for TB eradication," Herdimansyah 
said. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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