West Sumatra Floods, Ministry Of Health Deploys Mobile Health Command Posts

The Arai Pinang Complex in Padang City has become an area affected by the West Sumatra floods, Friday, July 14, 2023. (ANTARA/HO-BNPB)

Deputy Minister of Health (Wamenkes) Dante Saksono Harbuwono said the Ministry of Health had deployed mobile or mobile health posts to deal with victims affected by flooding in West Sumatra (West Sumatra).

"For areas that can be created by health posts, we have established health posts, but for areas that are difficult to reach and cannot make health posts, we have deployed a mobile health post team," said Dante after a ministerial meeting at the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture Office, Jakarta, Wednesday, March 13, was confiscated by Antara.

He explained that the mobile health post team moved through using rubber boats and transportation facilities in other forms that made it possible to move mobilely in the midst of flood disasters.

"So it will help people in areas that are difficult to reach due to flooding which continues to have an impact today," he said.

Dante also said that cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) have indeed increased in several areas, but he emphasized that the public should not worry because in general dengue disease attacks in inundated water areas, not inflowing.

Especially for cases in West Sumatra, the increasing disease is actually related to the digestive tract and breathing.

"The water is running, so it has not identified efforts to quickly handle the increase in dengue cases, in fact there are increasing diseases related to the digestive tract, and upper respiratory tract," he said.

For this reason, he continued, the Ministry of Health continues to make quick and medium-term efforts.

"In short, we are making efforts to reduce the health reserve team, then carry out surveillance (supervision) on diseases that cause potential outbreaks and carry out health risk assessments (risk health assessments)," he said.

Based on the results of the assessment, the Ministry of Health has concluded that there is no health crisis in the areas affected by the flood.

"For this reason, we will continue efforts to handle the medium-term which will conduct risk health assessments later, because it is not impossible that other diseases will have an impact on events caused by unclean sanitation and so on," he explained.

After the health risk assessment is carried out, the Ministry of Health will provide further reports to assess cases with medium-term handling efforts.