Ministry of Health Prepares Mycoplasma Pneumonia Detection Laboratory Network

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION/Ousa Chea

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) has prepared a laboratory network for the purpose of diagnosing symptoms of mycoplasma pneumonia that occurs in Indonesia.

"We are preparing the laboratory network so that it can be tested," said Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, as reported by ANTARA, Monday, December 4.

Budi said that mycoplasma pneumonia or the atypical bacteria that causes lung infections is not a new type of disease.

However, the extent of the disease's spread in society had not been measured for a long time, he said.

For this reason, the Ministry of Health is trying to equip the network of mycoplasma pneumonia detection laboratories with chemical reagents or reagents as a means of early detection of symptoms of mycoplasma pneumonia.

"Mycoplasma has been around for a long time, but it has never been measured. Now we have seen it, we have brought in the reagents, but this is not a new disease, it has been around for a long time," he said.

Pulmonary doctor from the Indonesian Lung Doctors Association (PDPI) Erlina Burhan in an online discussion in Jakarta, Thursday (30/11), said that mycoplasma pneumonia has mild symptoms with a rare occurrence in Indonesia.

He said the characteristics of the outbreak known as mysterious pneumonia were occurring in China, but showed significant differences when compared with the long COVID-19 condition.

Until now, he said, information regarding the relationship between pneumonia bacteria in Indonesia and those in China still needs to be researched further for a deeper understanding.

The Ministry of Health has carried out a number of mitigation efforts to anticipate the spread of mycoplasma pneumonia in Indonesia, one of which is by issuing Circular No. PM.03.01/C/4732/2023 regarding awareness of the incidence of mycoplasma pneumonia in Indonesia.