Thousands of Riau residents suffer respiratory illnesses
Clouds of smoke covering Riau province since the end of January are showing no signs of disappearing, causing the number of people suffering from acute respiratory infections (ISPA) to increase.
“There is no region free of ISPA patients. The smoke has lead to unhealthy air,” said Riau Health Agency head of disease control and environmental health Erdinal on Tuesday.
He said ISPA patients were mostly from regions with the worst air quality.
According to the agency’s latest data, the number of ISPA patients has reached 14,093. Of the total, 6,661 patients are living in Rokan Hilir regency, making it the region with the highest number of ISPA patients.
Other regions with high numbers of ISPA patients are Pekanbaru City with 1,420, followed by Dumai City (1,237), Siak regency (1,232), and Bengkalis (1,092). The remaining patients are spread across six other regencies with Kuantan Singingi the region with the lowest number of ISPA patients, with only 15.
Besides ISPA, four other health problems – asthma, eye irritation, skin irritation and pneumonia – have affected Riau residents due to the smoke.
Data shows 501 people have suffered from skin irritation, followed by asthma (314), eye irritation (205) and pneumonia (179).
“All regencies and municipalities have been instructed to provide free medical treatment for residents affected by smoke-related illnesses. The funds will be covered by the Riau regional budget,” said Erdinal.
To anticipate the growing number of ISPA patients, Riau Health Agency has distributed 150,000 masks during the past week.
“Within days, the number of ISPA patients has grown to the thousands. As of Saturday, the number of ISPA patients had reached 12,840 but within only two days, the figures grew to 14,093. Such a jump must be anticipated,” said Erdinal.
“The regions most affected with the smoke clouds have been instructed to give their kindergarten and elementary students’ between grades 1 to 3 time off from school.”
Five regencies and municipalities have given some of their students a vacation. They are the cities of Dumai and Pekanbaru and the regencies of Siak, Pelalawan and Rokan Hulu.
Source: The Jakarta Post
Published: 18 Feb 2014
