Jakarta hospitals swamped by flood victims

The Straits Times, February 24, 2007


Waterborne and mosquito-borne diseases land 1,500 in hospital

JAKARTA - WATERS in Indonesia's flood-hit capital have receded, but Dr Kristiono is busier than ever, moving from bed to bed in a cramped tent set up outside his overcrowded hospital for patients suffering from diarrhoea, dengue fever and other waterborne illnesses.

'I've never seen anything like it,' he said, pointing to a row of babies on intravenous drips, many of them sick after their parents used tap water infected with E. Coli bacteria in their milk formula. 'They just keep coming in.'

Seasonal downpours this month had caused rivers to break their banks in Jakarta, a sprawling metropolis of 12 million people. More than half the city was covered with black, putrid water, which was waist- and neck-deep in some low-lying slum areas.

As many as 97 people either drowned or were electrocuted in the capital and neighbouring Banten and West Java provinces, and 38 others have died of waterborne diseases. Health experts warn that the numbers are likely to climb.

Hospitals are trying to cope with 1,500 flood victims, and experts say there is a danger of an epidemic of mosquito-borne diseases now that monsoon storms have largely stopped, because pools of water make perfect breeding grounds.

'When it's getting quiet and you have water bodies there without lots of movement, then the eggs start hatching,' said Mr Kroeger Axel, a dengue research coordinator for the World Health Organisation in Geneva.

Nearly two-thirds of the flood patients citywide are suffering from diarrhoea which, unlike vector-borne diseases, strikes very quickly in the rainy season.

Some septic tanks had burst during the floods, contaminating water that has since been bottled and resold for drinking. There have been 20 deaths so far.

Doctors and nurses made their way slowly through wards packed with wailing babies and listless children in Koja Hospital where, up until a week ago, beds lined the corridors.

After coming under fire for failing to put in place essential flood control measures, the government provided tonnes of emergency relief and set up massive air-conditioned tents outside the building.

'He started having stomach problems last weekend,' Ms Unayah said of her six-month-old son Tamin in one of the makeshift wards. 'He was hot, he was crying. I brought him here as soon as he started having diarrhoea.'

'So far they've treated us very well,' she said, adding that all health care and medication related to flood-related illnesses have been free. 'Many people are angry, but I feel very lucky to be here.'

At the height of the Jakarta floods, more than 400,000 people had to be evacuated, but almost all of them have since returned to their homes, some of them without electricity and tap water, especially in poor neighbourhoods.

Sporadic rain continues, and garbage mixes with dark pools on the road, but the deluges seen in the first half of the month have largely ceased.

In recent days, doctors have reported 135 cases of the rare but often-deadly bacterial disease leptospirosis. Five people have died.

The disease, caused by water contaminated by rat urine, often leads to organ failure.

Leptospirosis patient Marsudi, 39, slumped on a cot in the hallway of the packed Tarakan hospital, has been warded since Tuesday. His eyes were red and he was too weak to walk after four days of high fever, said intern Nazir.

'He's lucky,' he said. 'Earlier this week, we had a patient who died. She got here when it was already too late - the bacteria had attacked most of her organs.'

ASSOCIATED PRESS