Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday launched a national movement to combat mosquito breeding places in a bid to halt the spread of dengue fever that has killed at least 113 people this year. "The activities to be conducted in the national movement will be decided later," Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told newsmen after a meeting with the president. During a visit to Budi Asih hospital in East Jakarta on Wednesday, Yudhoyono called for an effective formula to overcome dengue fever. Asked about reports that a number of hospitals had charged dengue patients for their treatment whereas the government had decided that such patients would be treated for free, the minister said the hospitals should not have done so. "Dengue patients deserve free-of-charge treatment, and hospitals may not reject or charge them," Sapari said, adding that President Yudhoyono was deeply concerned about the outbreaks of dengue fever in the country. A virulent outbreak of dengue fever in Indonesia has already claimed the lives of up to 113 during this year's rainy season, after infecting 5,064 others nationwide, Sapari said. But this year's death tally was far lower compared with the same period of last year's of 284 deaths and 20,000 dengue cases were reported, she added. In the capital Jakarta, one of the hardest-hit regions, as many as 1,725 cases were reported since January this year, of which 20 died from the mosquito-borned disease, officials said. Health officials last week declared six provinces, including Jakarta, as emergency status. The other provinces were West Java, East Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, and West and East Nusa Tenggara. Dengue fever, spread by infective female Aedes mosquitos, causes symptoms ranging from mild, flu-like symptoms to the most dangerous dengue hemorrhagic fever, which can lead to massive bleeding, shock and sometimes fatalities. The disease was first recorded in Indonesia in 1968 in Surabaya and Jakarta, when it killed 24 people.
