Ministry of Health Asks Health Staff to be Alert to Mysterious Pneumonia Endemic in China

ILLUSTRATION: VOI’s DOC

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) has asked all its staff to be alert and vigilant about pneumonia cases, following a World Health Organization (WHO) report which noted an increase in mysterious pneumonia cases affecting children in China.

As a form of government preparedness in anticipating the spread of pneumonia in Indonesia, the Ministry of Health issued Circular Letter Number: PM.03.01/C/4632/2023 concerning Precautions against the Incident of Mycoplasma Pneumonia in Indonesia.

"The issuance of this circular letter aims to anticipate the spread of pneumonia in Indonesia," said Director General of Disease Prevention and Control at the Ministry of Health, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, November 29.

In the Circular, Maxi asked the Port Health Office (KKP) to monitor the development of cases and affected countries at the global level and increase early vigilance by monitoring cases suspected of pneumonia.

He also asked the KKP to increase supervision of people (crew, personnel and passengers), transportation equipment, luggage, the environment, vectors, disease-carrying animals at ports, airports and cross-border posts, especially those from infected countries.

"The KKP and health service facilities (fasyankes) in the regions are asked to carry out strict surveillance by monitoring the increase in cases in the region," he said.

Maxi also asked the KKP and health facilities to report case findings through the Early Awareness and Response System (SKDR) via the link https://skdr.surveilans.org or the Public Health Emergency Operation Center (PHEOC) WhatsApp (WA) number: 0877-7759-1097 or email: [email protected] and copy the Provincial Health Service and Regency/City Health Service.

For the local Health Service (Dinkes) to follow up on reports of suspected cases of mycoplasma pneumoniae from health facilities and facilitate the sending of specimens to the Sentinel Influenza Like Illness (ILI) or Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) reference laboratory.

Maxi also asked all parties to intensify health promotion efforts in the form of health education to increase public knowledge regarding pneumonia.

For your information, the exact cause of this disease that attacks the respiratory system is not yet known. However, based on epidemiological reports, there has been an increase in Mycoplasma pneumoniae cases by 40 percent. Mycoplasma was a common cause of respiratory infections before COVID-19.