800 patients with dengue in Jakarta
AFP, Jakarta
Exhausted hospital staff in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, are struggling to cope with a deadly dengue fever outbreak, with almost 800 people admitted in a single day, officials said yesterday. The nationwide death toll since January 1 now stands at 352 with 22,384 others infected, according to health ministry figures. Jakarta and other parts of densely populated Java island have been especially hard-hit by the mosquito-borne disease. "We had 789 new patients admitted to hospitals on Tuesday," said Dr Aida Fatmi of the Jakarta health office. More than 3,200 people were being treated in city hospitals as of late Tuesday, she said. Patients are sleeping on camp beds in corridors and any other space that can be found, including hospital mosques. "We have been full for the past three days," said Dr Sukirman, who heads the Tarakan state hospital in central Jakarta. He said the hospital was still awaiting a fresh delivery of camp beds so that it could treat more patients. "What we have so far done is take in new patients, administer the necessary initial treatment and move them to other hospitals with spaces still available," Sukirman said.
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