The increasing epidemic of ebola in a number of African countries has raised concerns for the world community. The WHO said until mid-October 2014 death fatalities due to the virus are 4,033 in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.
UGM engineering professor, Prof. Ir. Sunarno, M.Eng., Ph.D., said Indonesia has also the risk for the fatal disease transmission as transportation and mobility of people between Africa and Indonesia are high. On the other hand, Indonesia has no standard operating procedures related to mitigation and handling of ebola.
“Indonesia needs to prepare immediately in terms of SOP and technology and equipment supports against ebola transmission,” he said on Tuesday (28/10) alongside the simulation of ebola transmission mitigation at Physics Engineering study programme.
Sunarno said the SOP had to be accurate to prevent transmissions. Failing to do so may lead to disease transmission as what had happened in the U.S.
The Indonesian government has to act swiftly in devising mitigation strategies. It is feared that the disease would develop uncontrollably due to the changing characters of the virus while the vaccines have not been found.
In his opinion, the SOP should be based on the socio-cultural condition of Indonesian people. His office is now setting up ebola handling SOP and mitigation in cooperation with Core Orari DIY and PIM DIY.