Bird flu in Indonesia: "these negligent guys"

If you want a good snapshot of how poorly prepared Indonesia is for coping with bird flu, look no further than the Letter column of The Jakarta Post:

On Aug. 26 I found a dead wild bird in my yard. I am living in Bali near the area where bird flu related deaths have occurred.

Since I was worried about the possible risk connected with dead birds, I tried to contact some authority to guide me on how to handle this situation.

I tried to reach the main hospital in Bali, Sanglah, and the answer was to go there if sick but they do not know anything regarding dead birds or chickens.

Next I tried to contact 110, the emergency number of the police: there was no answer. I tried then with the health and animal departments: again no answer.

I then called a newspaper office and spoke with a journalist there: she did not know of any special procedure in place to handle the bird flu-related problems neither she was aware of any emergency number.

I tried then to contact the head of my village (in the Kerobokan area) and his reaction was: "Just bury the bird, there is no problem." How would he know?

Eventually I obtained, through a friend, the personal cell phone number of a doctor nice enough to put me in touch with two nice guys from the animal department who came to my house to check the bird four hours after I began my search for information. (Jakarta Post)

Mind you, this is the country with more cases and more bird flu deaths than any other country in the world. The island of Bali, a major tourist area, has had two recent deaths from bird flu. The Indonesian authorities have been vocal and self-righteous about other countries profiting from influenza virus sequence information and viral isolates obtained from cases within their borders and for this reason do not consistently share this information with the world scientific community. Yet at the same time, through negligence, corruption and incompetence Indonesian authorities allow a continuous breeding ground for a virus that threatens everyone on the globe.

I know this is a difficult problem and it is easy to stand thousands of miles away and be critical. So I'll let the letter writer say what some might think I don't have the standing to say:

Bird flu is a very serious problem which requires a strong effort from the side of the civil servants to try to minimize the risk connected with it.

I hope this letter reaches some more reactive authority who will take some action, but mainly I look forward to many more such letter from the public to put strong pressure on these negligent guys and force them to take immediate action in line with the recommendations of the Indonesian government and the WHO.

GIUSEPPE VERDACCHI
Denpasar

Enough said.