Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
The recently reelected Tangerang Regent Ismet Iskandar has ordered officials to open a crisis center in a bid to curb the spread of avian influenza in the regency.
Ismet said the center would enhance coordination among agencies, and would be managed by a cross-agency team.
"Cooperation is the key. The regency's Asset and Wealth Management board must provide the required funding while the Spatial Layout and Building Agency must build a laboratory for research at Tangerang Hospital," Ismet said recently in a meeting before top officials in Tangerang.
He appointed administrative assistant Deden Sughandi to head the crisis center.
He also ordered the administration's legal department to compose a bylaw on poultry trade and industry.
"There must be the good will of all related agencies to fight avian influenza, otherwise Tangerang will remain one of the hardest hit areas in the country," he said.
The central government declared Tangerang a "red zone" for bird flu following the deaths of Iwan Siswara, an official at the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), and his two young daughters in July 2005.
The red zone labeling has had a negative impact on poultry breeders and chicken meat traders, who have seen slumping sales ever since.
Public concern escalated again over the spread of bird flu in Tangerang after the recent deaths of two Tangerang residents at Sulianto Saroso Hospital in North Jakarta and Persahabatan Hospital in East Jakarta last month.
Head of the regency health agency Hani Heriyanto admitted that related agencies under the administration had yet to achieve coordination and cooperation on how to protect the area.
"It seems the health and husbandry agency is the only one that worries about the virus transmission here, while other agency officials remain undisturbed even though many have died of the virus," he said.
Since 2005, 16 local people have been infected in the regency, resulting in 14 deaths.
The bird flu anticipation effort would be among the first jobs for Ismet, who has started to resume his second term this month.
Together with actor-cum-politician Rano Karno of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Ismet won the first direct election in the regency last January.
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