The conditions of I Nyoman Mar (58), a suspected bird flu patient being treated at Sanglah Hospital here, are improving, ANTARA quoted hopital sources as saying. Nar, a resident of Banjar Pasar village in Jembrana district, is no longer using a respirator and the patient`s body temperature has also dropped, a hospital official told ANTARA here on Wednesday. Admitted to the hosptal three days ago, Mar was beginning to enjoy food again and able to sit up. But the team of doctors who have been treating Mar continue to monitor developments in Mar`s state of health closely. The hospital has set up a special ward to treat bird flu patients. So far, six suspected bird flu patients have been treated at the Nusa Indah ward with two of them, namely Ni Luh Sri W (29) from Jembrana and Ni Sri N from Tabanan, having died recently. The Bali provincial administration has since 2003 taken a number of precautionary measures to prevent possible bird flu outbreaks from spreading on the island. It has set up a special team of doctors to deal with the disease, special wards and equipment at Sanglah hospital to treat suspected bird flu patients. The administration meanwhile would inject Rp1.8 billion more in funds to increase the capacity of Sanglah Hospital`s Nusa Indah ward in anticipation of a possible increase in the number of bird flu patients brought to the hospital. It has also named two other hospitals -- one in Tabanan and another in Gianyar -- to also become reference hospitals for bird flu sufferers.
