Many Indonesians who travel to Saudi Arabia to perform the haj pilgrimage are not aware that they are required to be vaccinated against Meningococcal Meningitis prior to their departure, the government says.
The Health Ministry’s head of disease control and environmental health, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, said that many Indonesians who traveled to Saudi Arabia on the minor haj pilgrimage, or umrah, or as migrant workers, did not know about the government regulation, due to a lack of information and education about the disease. (source)
The Health Ministry’s head of disease control and environmental health, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, said that many Indonesians who traveled to Saudi Arabia on the minor haj pilgrimage, or umrah, or as migrant workers, did not know about the government regulation, due to a lack of information and education about the disease. (source)
“Many of them are not aware that the disease can cause death,” he said during a seminar titled “Protect the Nation, Prevent Meningitis” in Jakarta recently.
Tjandra said the ministry had set up posts at airports to check Indonesians travelling to Saudi Arabia for their International Certificate of Vaccine (ICV), as proof that they had been vaccinated.
The Saudi Arabia government requires that all visa applicants recieve a meningitis vaccination.
Meningitis is a bacterial and viral disease found in nasal and esophageal liquid. It is transmitted from person to person by coughing and sneezing.
The vaccination should be administered at least 10 days before the departure date.
“If it is done less than [10 days] before, the antibody system will not be ready,” said Samsuridjal Djauzi, a professor at the University of Indonesia’s School of Medicine, as quoted by kompas.com.
There have been five cases of Indonesians who have contracted meningitis while on a haj pilgrimage, since 2006, according to the ministry.
Benget Saragih Turnip, the Health Ministry’s sub-directorate health quarantine and port health officer, said many travelers presented fake ICV certificates made by travel agents at the airport.
“People are willing to pay more for a fake certificate than the vaccine and the original certificate because they don’t understand the real purpose,” he told reporters at a recent media briefing.
The cost of the vaccination at official vaccination points in airports ranges from Rp 290,000 (US$34) to Rp 400,000.
Benget said that only 21,449 of the 300,000 people who had embarked on the haj pilgrimage in 2007 had presented original ICVs.
However, since then the number of legitimate certificates shown has increased. In 2011, the number of ICV holders was around 180,000 out of 300,000 pilgrims.
Luthfi Mardiansyah, the president director of pharmaceutical company PT Novartis Indonesia, said that his firm has participated in the government’s efforts to disseminate information about the disease.
“We hope that through such activities many Indonesians have become more aware of the disease and have started protecting themselves,” he said.
Indonesian haj pilgrims have been embroiled in a clinical dilemma involving meningitis vaccines since 2008, when the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) declared that the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine previously used by pilgrims was haram (unlawful).
However, last year the MUI defended its fatwa (edict), declaring that two other brands of the meningitis vaccine were halal, dismissing experts’ claims that no vaccines for the disease were porcine-free as mere business competition strategy.
The Health Ministry provided free halal meningitis vaccinations last year to people planning to make the haj pilgrimage to Mecca.
The country’s Food and Drug Controlling Agency issued a registration number for the Italian-made Novartis meningitis vaccine, which shows that the vaccine has passed the agency’s quality, security and fitness tests, according to the Health Ministry’s head of pharmacy and medical equipment, Sri Indrawaty. (drs)
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