How the stars stay in shape

Matheos Viktor Messakh , THE JAKARTA POST , JAKARTA | Wed, 04/01/2009 12:57 PM | Body & Soul

Stay in shape: Actress and director Lola Amaria goes to a gym, practices yoga and consumes balanced diet to stay in good shape. JP/Berto Wedhatama

We might forget it sometimes, but celebrities are human too. Like the rest of us, they have to work hard to stay in shape, even as daily pressures, professional requirements and advancing years work against them.

And even though they have different strategies for staying fit and healthy, a common theme emerges – that no matter how busy you are, you should always find time to look after yourself.
Actress and director Lola Amaria, who once had to pile on six kilograms for a role, stays in shape through regular gym workouts, yoga and a balanced diet.
Lola joined a gym near her house in Bintaro, and tries to get there for a workout at least two or three times a week. But even if her busy schedule makes getting to the gym impossible, the Ca Bau Kan star still makes sure she does some kind of exercise every day.
“It doesn’t have to be excessive physical activity,” says Lola, who shifted her extra weight by jogging daily for six months. “A brisk half-hour walk every day will keep you healthy.”
The actress also finds yoga an important part of her routine. She learned yoga about five years ago and still practices it regularly. “It’s good for stress release,” she says. “Initially I was helped by an instructor but now I do it by myself at home.”
Yoga, she says, makes her more relaxed during the everyday life, “especially you get stuck in a traffic jam”.
Getting the recommended amount of sleep is generally out of the question for the busy filmmaker, so she naps when she can. “I try to sleep at least six hours a day but it’s quite impossible, so what I do is I have a little sleep in between, in the breaks.”
And when it comes to what she puts in her mouth, Lola admits she is very strict, and rarely touches greasy food or junk food. “If possible, eat fruit and fresh vegetables at least once each day,” she says.
She points out that vitamins and supplements are helpful for people living in a polluted city, but adds that even those who have no faith in supplements can do themselves a favor by consuming fresh and healthy food and drinking lots of water.
“Nutrients are not only from capsules,” she says. “We can get them in fresh water or fresh food.”
Actor and presenter Ferdy Hassan is one of the many celebrities who work with professional personal trainers to stay in shape.
As he entered his 30s, Ferdy noticed something common to pretty much everyone: His body was changing, and he needed to take action.
“I realized that as I’m getting older, it’s not as easy to control my weight,” Ferdy says. “That’s why I need a trainer.”
The 36-year-old, who never fails go to the gym at least twice a week, has followed a regime for two years, in which his trainer helps him with complete body training and dietary advice.
Ferdy had joined a gym in high school but then quit. He didn’t give it another go until his weight exceeded 90 kilograms. It took him four months of tailored workouts to lose 10 kilograms.
“I have tried many ways to lose weight but the gym is the most effective. After doing exercise, we can focus better on other things,” he says.
“We often can’t be bothered to exercise but believe me, you will feel so much better if you do it. There are lots of good effects. It’s also a life investment for us.”
In short, he says, “If you love your family, then do your exercise.”
He also finds reflexology beneficial, calling a massage therapist to his house in the Blok M area in South Jakarta about once a week. “All the reflections of our physical health are in our feet,” he says. “When you are getting [a massage], you fall asleep and when you wake up, you feel much more relaxed and refreshed.”
Ferdy does not worry so much about his diet, but when he feels he has been eating too much fatty food, he makes an effort to balance his diet, although that doesn’t stop his love of eating.
“I’m Sundanese and I like to try anything,” he says.
Similarly worried by the way his weight crept up with the years, actor and presenter Farhan also hired a personal trainer almost two years ago, shocked into action when the scales tipped 95 kilograms.
It took him about a year to get into the habit of doing jogging, weightlifting and crunches for 30 to 60 minutes a day.
“I needed a trainer at the beginning but now I do it myself,” says the star, who believes that when we’re young we can do whatever we want, but have to “pay everything back
after 30”.
The first thing that needs to be paid back, he says, is our diet. “I rarely eat rice at the moment,” he says. “I skip carbohydrates, sugars and meat. My friends say I’m like a goat that eats lots of vegetables but fortunately I never get constipated anymore.”
As part of his new healthy lifestyle, the 39-year-old also skips alcohol and cigarettes and always gets to bed early. “I only bergadang [stay up late] if I really have to,” he says.
But the gym and other forms of indoor exercise are not for everyone. Jazz singer Syaharani prefers to head for the great outdoors to stay fit and healthy.
Courtesy of Queenfireworks
“Fitness is boring,” the 37-year-old says baldly. “Our space is limited and we repeat our movements like ironing.”
A brisk early morning walk is Syaharani’s favorite fitness habit. Three to four times a week, she heads out in the early hours for a walk around her housing complex in Bintaro, South Jakarta.
When she finds time in her busy schedule – about once every two or three months – Syaharani and her friends get together to go hiking or trekking, most recently in Curug Panjang in West Java.
Also beneficial to her health, she says, is meditation, which she learned years ago when she lived in Bali. “I do it as much as possible because it’s simple but it clears your mind. Mediation and stretching the body … make us relax because they maximize the oxygen in our body.”
Syaharani says that when she moved from Bali to Jakarta in 1995, she stopped meditating, and noticed big changes in her daily life.
“I was trying to work out why I got tired and bored so easily,” she says. “Then I took up mediation again and I felt better. Mediation is good and it works for people in all sorts of professions, especially for a singer like me.” She now wants to learn more about yoga.
Syaharani likes to eat but she recognizes the importance of staying in control.

“I always remind myself that eating is not only for enjoyment but also for the needs of the body,” she says. “If in a week I have been having too much fatty food, I will balance it by having fresh fruit and vegetables.”
The singer especially likes mushrooms and broccoli because they are high in antioxidants and easy to prepare. “I always buy them when I go to the supermarket or ask for them if I go to a restaurant.”
For Syaharani, who has a medical checkup at least once a year, the first step in keeping healthy is stress management. “Stress contributes a lot to health problems,” she says. “Everybody has their own way of dealing with stress but they have to do it immediately.”
The second step is to do light exercise and the third is eating properly, she says. “Never skip breakfast because when you busy in the day, you will forget everything.”
Too many people lead lives that are out of balance, she says – overeating and under-exercising, often because they are under stress and use food as comfort.
The most common mistake, according to Syaharani, is focusing on appearance rather than on health.
“In fact, the important thing is your behavior: Stay active, eat right and feel good today,” she says. “The results will follow.”

John H.G. Soe: Nobody's child, everybody's man

Matheos Viktor Messakh , The Jakarta Post , JAKARTA | Wed, 03/25/2009 1:59 PM | People

Some blame their parents for their misfortunes, others blame God. But John H.G. Soe has never blamed anyone for mistreating him, or for the polio that shaped his life.

It was because of this polio that his parents abandoned him at a hospital in Medan when he was four months old. The nurses took care of him for a few years, before sending him to a Catholic orphanage in the same city.

But when he was in the third grade, renovations to the dormitory meant families had to take the children home. No one came for John, who was then called “Kong”; he was nobody’s child.

“Not only that day, but every school holiday, other children were picked up by their family, but nobody ever asked me even to go outside the orphanage’s dormitory …,” John told The Jakarta Post.

A nun found his parents, but his mother rejected him, but the nuns couldn’t take him back because of the renovations.

“I was crying because I felt more comfortable with the nuns. I had no feelings whatsoever for my parents.”

He spent “a very bitter week” with his family. They kept him in the small backyard and he was not allowed to play with his sisters and brothers. He slept on the floor where the others had beds, and was fed differently.

“I was given rice and a bit of vegetables while my brothers and sisters got chicken or duck,” John recalled. He also remembers an occasion when he was dragged to the back of the house when a guest asked who he was.

After 10 days, his brother took him back to the orphanage. The nuns, shocked at his condition, never sent him back to his parents again.

In 1973, Dutch-Italian businessman Ted de Ponti, a Singapore-based Rotarian and former Red Cross volunteer, visiting one of the nuns at the orphanage, said he wanted to adopt an orphan who was “really abandoned but academically bright”.

“I want him to be someone,” he said.

The obvious choice was the boy who was crippled by polio, a boy who had never had anyone visit him, but was so clever he could repair his friend’s broken radio. “I remember it was Sunday June 13th. The nuns said ‘an uncle’ would come and meet me to adopt me.”

John put on his best clothes and dragged himself to the parlor to wait. “I felt so happy when he hugged me. He took me to the shop to buy me my first new clothes ever and a Timex watch, and held a dinner at a restaurant where he introduced me as his son to his friends.”

De Ponti covered all the boy’s expenses and visited him regularly, before arranging for John to be taken to Singapore for surgery.

When the nuns got papers from John’s parents for the passport, he finally learned his birthday — June 17, 1959 — the names of his parents and his eight siblings, and his own birth name: Soe Hian Ghe.

In December 1973, De Ponti brought the boy to Singapore. The Rotary Club had decided to pay for the operations and Rotarians in Zevennar, the Netherlands, sponsored the trip.

He underwent four operations; after eight months in the hospital, his right leg, which was bent like a bow, began to improve. His ankles started to function, and now he can even drive a car.

After the first operation, The Strait Times ran a story about him, including a picture of him munching chocolates. The chocolate company, pleased with the free advertising, sent him dozens of boxes of chocolates, which he sent to his friends in the orphanage in Medan.

Everything was done at no cost — even Singapore Airlines provided a return trip for free. The money Rotary had committed for his operations now went to his education.

A month after the final operation, John returned to school in Medan. As he was 14 years old and had a disability, only a girl’s school would accept him. “Only two of us were boys, we both had polio.”

He later studied architecture in Singapore and interior design in London. He planned to return to Singapore but because of the 1985 economic crisis, his foster father advised him to go to Jakarta instead.

The first thing he did was to look up his family, who had moved to the Indonesian capital. His mother was still cold to him. “I told them that I only wanted to make a family bond and had no intention of making them feel bad.”

A year later, his family asked for forgiveness. John felt the request was unnecessary. “The past is the past, let’s look to the future,” he said.

John soon began his career in an architecture firm, and within five years had set up his own architecture and interior design company, which he still runs.

He married in 1988 and has two children. Ted de Ponti died in 1990, two month after John’s first child was born.

“I still remember he was very happy when my son was born. My son was like a first grandson to him,” John said. “Ted gave me confidence and love. He changed everything in my life.”

Because of the help Rotary gave him, John wanted to become a Rotarian, a dream realized when a client recommended him for membership in 2003.

Since he was indicted in 2004, he has held several important positions, including club secretary and club president; he is now the assistant governor for the Jakarta region.

He was been active in Rotary’s fight against polio, especially during the joint Rotary–Health Ministry campaign for the national immunization program in 2005 and 2006.

Looking back, John has no regrets or bitterness.

“I always think there is always someone who is experiencing something worse than me,” he said. “Everything is a blessing in disguise. I wouldn’t be what I am today if my parents did not leave me at that hospital.”

Comments (5)

Emmiwaty L (not verified) — Fri, 03/27/2009 - 12:39pm

Traditional massage therapist finds a place with doctors

Matheos Viktor Messakh , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 03/11/2009 2:04 PM | Health

Ten-year-old Bowo was playing with his friends in the schoolyard in East Jakarta when he felt a pain in the lower part of his stomach and could barely move his feet. His parents were called to the school and the boy was taken to hospital.

The doctor could do nothing for the boy other than diagnose a hernia. However, the hospital knew of a health clinic that had a Cimande massage therapist. The desperate parents and grimacing boy saw no other option; they headed straight to the clinic.
"After less than one hour of massage and with pain relief medication, my boy was able to go out and play again," the boy's father, Rasyid, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Like many forms of traditional massage in Indonesia, Cimande massage has developed a reputation for its ability to cure bone-, joint- and muscle-related complaints.
The type of massage is named after the village in Bogor, West Java, where many of the massage therapists come from. The skills have been handed down from generation to generation, a tradition accompanied by a kind of mystic aura.
Muhammad Si In, a 48-year-old massage therapist from Cimande, said he had received training in the technique from his grandfather, Abah Emang, from when he was 20 years old, but he was not allowed to practice it until he had his own family in 1987.
"We promised him that we would only practice it when we got married and had children of our own. I don't know why, but I obeyed."
Si In, who is popularly known as Bang Mamat, said that he received the training together with 12 other children, but he was the only one who passed the test allowing him to treat the public.
The preparation his grandfather gave him, Si In said, went for nearly a year and involved numerous rituals, prohibitions and taboos, including 40 days of fasting and not being allowed to eat rice or any vine fruit.
He has since come to be the therapist at a certified health clinic in East Jakarta, after beginning in 1987 practicing at his own house in Bogor, before becoming a therapist in Indramayu, West Java, for one year. From 2000, he was the therapist for the Bogor regent.
Since 2006 he has been working for a Gran Ananda clinic in East Jakarta, where he works alongside doctors helping treat complaints ranging from sore muscles and stiff tendons to more serious bone and muscle problems such as fractures, sprains and hernias. He treats patients in a simple room, with nothing but a thin mat and pillow.
Si In said between five and 10 patients visit the clinic for massage therapy during the week, and 10 to 15 during the weekend. The clinic also gets some patients from abroad.
Adi, the coordinator of Gran Ananda clinic, said that initially doctors at the clinic were reluctant to work with Si In, but after he succeeded with several patients, they started to cooperate with him.
After all, Si In does also hold a license from the East Jakarta health service agency permitting him to practice his traditional skill.
The therapist, who never finished high school, said he had no interest in learning about muscles, bones or human anatomy or to enrich his skills from books or other modern sources - he believes the knowledge gained during that year of training with his grandfather is enough.
"I just have to learn from the patients that come to me," said Si In, who has been part of the health team for Bogor municipality's regional sports week (Porda) contingent since 2000.
Even professional massage therapist Sugiat Mulyosudarmo admires the Cimande traditional therapists. He said he often visits them to "steal" their skills.
"They have the talent, even though they might know nothing about muscles or bones. I always learn from them and never underestimate them," said Sugiat, who holds several licenses for sports massage, including from the International Olympics Commission in 1998 and 2002.
Sugiat, who has been a massage therapist for the Indonesian badminton team for many national and international events since 1987, said that if traditional massage therapists had their own institution to update their skills and promote them, they would be as widely accepted as professional therapists.
"They have the knowledge; they just don't know how to explain it. They are smart because they never stop learning."
This lack of knowledge about human anatomy, said Sugiat, is the traditional therapists' only Achilles heel.
"Sometimes, they treat different illnesses with the same treatment. We can feel pain in the same part of our body but the cause could be different so the treatment should be different."
However, Si In said that passing his grandfather's rigorous selection process was enough for him to become a therapist.
"We can feel it in our hand if we have the skills and in time we can also know the problem just by looking at the patient," he said. "Even if someone had done something with it already, we will know if it is totally fixed."

Maybe work is making you sick …

Matheos Viktor Messakh , THE JAKARTA POST , JAKARTA | Wed, 03/04/2009 9:58 AM | Health

Office illness: A study has found that 50 percent of people who work in office buildings in Jakarta suffer from what is known as “Sick Building Syndrome”, and that taking antioxidants can reduce symptoms. [JP]

After all those years of complaining that work makes you sick, it turns out you could be right. Don’t get too comfortable thinking your workplace is an airtight building, fully equipped with air conditioner, thick, regularly cleaned carpet and photocopier and fax. Things are not always what they seem.

A recent study by the University of Indonesia’s Mass Health Faculty, the Indonesian Mass Health Expert Association (IAKMI) and PT Bayer Indonesia revealed that 50 percent of people who work in office buildings in Jakarta suffer from what is known as “Sick Building Syndrome”.

Joko Prayitno Sutanto, a researcher with a government research agency, working out of a high-rise building in the Thamrin area, said he found he got a sore throat and cough every time he entered the building.

The 49-year-old researcher – who spent up to eight hours a day at his office – said he was not sure of the cause of the headache and cough, but felt uncomfortable with the air conditioner in the building.

“Apparently the air conditioner only runs from 8 a.m. so every time we enter the glass-walled building we already feel airless,” he said.

Joko is not the only one who finds it all too easy to believe there is a connection between the workplace and the state of his health.

Dian, 46, who works in the human resources department at a private company in a building in the Sudirman area, said she tended to feel nauseous and to tire easily, and she often had watering eyes and runny nose.

“It happens almost everyday and when I get home I feel like I can do nothing at all,” said Dian, who puts in more than eight hours a day at the office. “It’s not too bad but it’s annoying because it happens almost everyday.”

She also noticed that she felt better away from work. “It’s not drastically better but I feel it when I get out of the building.”

Joko and Dian are two of 350 employees from 18 companies and government institutions that took part in a three-month study conducted by the University of Indonesia from September to December 2008.

The 350 respondents were separated into two groups; members of one group were given antioxidant supplements while the members of the other group were not.

The study discovered that 50 percent of people who work in office buildings suffer from “Sick Building Syndrome”, and that members of the group that took the antioxidants experienced a significant reduction in their illness than the group with no intervention.

Taking antioxidants reduced the frequency of occurrence of four main symptoms of “Sick Building Syndrome” by up to 50 percent. Headaches were reduced by 48.9 percent, burning eyes were reduced by 45.5 percent, runny nose by 51.9 percent, bronchitis by 27.2 percent and exhaustion after normal activity by 40.8 percent.

“The risk of having Sick Building Syndrome is closely related to environmental factors which become the medium for physical, chemical and biological pollutants and radiation, especially when we face relatively constant exposure,” said research coordinator Budi Haryanto.

Haryanto said that Sick Building Syndrome became widely known in Hong Kong and Singapore in the 1990s through research.

“Now they have become very advanced in managing the indoor air quality, but we have never before conducted this kind of study on indoor air quality,” he said.

A disease known is half cured, but the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, which is responsible for evaluating indoor air quality, never tested it, said Haryanto.

“Sorry to say but the Health Ministry, which is responsible for monitoring the impact of indoor air pollution, also never did any monitoring,” said Haryanto.

For years, Jakarta has been included in the World Health Organization list of the world’s most polluted cities. World Bank data from 2004 ranked Jakarta as the third most polluted city in the world. A study by the University of Indonesia, USAID and Swisscontact revealed that city transportation contributed 70 percent of the total pollution in the city.

“If we look at the annual Health Profile of the Health Ministry, the top 10 diseases are related to air pollution and the total of these diseases accounted for 50 percent of diseases reported by the ministry,” said Haryanto, who is also chairman of the Environmental Health Department at the University of Indonesia’s School of Public Health.

However, said Haryanto, not many know that research has frequently found that the level of air pollution indoors could be worse than the level outdoors.

If building occupants complain of symptoms associated with acute discomfort, such as headaches; eye, nose or throat irritation; dry cough; dry or itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; difficulty in concentrating; fatigue; and sensitivity to odors – these might be symptoms of the syndrome.

Especially if the cause of the symptoms is not known and most of the complainants report relief soon after leaving the building, it is likely that they are in a “sick” building.

Causes of Sick Building Syndrome, said Haryanto, are inadequate ventilation, chemical contaminants from indoor sources, chemical contaminants from outdoor sources and biological contaminants.

Inadequate ventilation, which may also occur if heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems do not effectively distribute air to people in the building, is thought to be another important factor in Sick Building Syndrome.

Most indoor air pollution comes from sources inside the building, such as adhesives, carpeting, upholstery, manufactured wood products, photocopiers, air conditioners, pesticides and cleaning agents.

Environmental tobacco smoke also contributes high levels of toxins and particulate matter.

“Most of us spend more than eight hours a day in our office dealing with the copy machine, printer, air conditioner and carpet everyday,” Haryanto said. “Because we cannot smell the particles and dust we drag in everyday, we feel safe, but actually they cause lots of respiration problems.”

The outdoor air that enters a building can be a source of indoor air pollution, as pollutants can enter the building through poorly located air vents, windows and other openings.

Biological contaminants such as bacteria, mold, pollen and viruses can also be making buildings – and their occupants – sick. These can breed in any stagnant water that has collected in ducts or drains, or other places. Other sources of biological contaminants include insects or bird droppings – which can result in cough, chest tightness, fever, chills, muscle aches and allergic responses.

These elements, said Haryanto, may act in combination and may supplement other complaints such as inadequate temperature, humidity or lighting. Even after a building is investigated, the specific causes of the complaints may remain unknown.

Until the lack of knowledge about the syndrome among both the public and building developers and related government agencies is reversed, the first step for individuals is to reduce the impact of indoor air pollution by maintaining a healthy life – such as through antioxidant supplements, as found in the study.

“The need for vitamins and antioxidant supplements is parallel and important to people living in the middle of pollution,” Haryanto said. “Especially vitamin C and E are needed for stamina.”

At the moment, this may be workers’ only option. As Haryanto points out, “The key word for this syndrome is respiration. We can’t choose to breathe or not to breathe, can we?”

Sick Building Syndrome
symptoms:

Burning and watering eyes and nose
Burning in trachea
Chronic fatigue
Debilitating fibromyalgia (muscle cramps and joint pain)
Dizziness
Dry, itchy skin
Exhaustion after normal activity
Headaches
Heart palpitations
Hoarseness, cough, sore throat
Inability to concentrate
Itchy granulomous pimples
Nausea
Nosebleeds
Pregnancy problems
Sensitivity to odors
Serious edema (swelling of legs, trunk, ankles)
Shortness of breath upon mild exertion (e.g. walking)
Tremors
Wellness when away from building

Erik Prabowo: Bringing green idea to surgery

Matheos Viktor Messakh , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 11/19/2008 10:58 AM | People

Erik Prabowo truly epitomizes the Confucius saying "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". While working the graveyard shift at Dr. Kariadi Hospital in Semarang one night in September 2007, the resident doctor read a poster on the wall to pass the time.

It advertised an international competition, run by German-based healthcare supplier B. Braun Melsungen, which sought out new and innovative ways to seal surgical wounds. He made some notes and launched an Internet search the next day.

This initial curiosity eventually saw him become the national winner and receive prize money of 5,000 euro last Tuesday from the B. Braun group. Erik is now headed for the international stage, and on Dec. 5 he will join researchers, medical professionals and designers from around the globe in Berlin for the announcement of the international winner.

"It feels like I have won the lottery. I thought it was a great competition, dealing with a problem many doctors face with stitches, and I was curious about innovations in these technologies," he said.

Born in Pekanbaru, Riau province in 1978, Erik applied to study medicine in 1996 to follow in the footsteps of his father, an army surgeon. He received his medical degree from Semarang's Diponegoro University in 2000.

An interest in computers almost saw him study electrical engineering at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), but somewhat in a twist of fate, he failed the entrance test. Despite ending up highly successful, Erik had some personal fears that weren't really suited to a career in medicine. While performing his first ever surgical procedure in 2002, he fainted at the sight of all the blood.

"If I had to choose, I'd rather putter around with computers than read books," he said.

Following four months' of research, Erik submitted an abstract of his paper titled "Go Green Circle Sutures" to the competition.

The competition had invited surgeons, scientists from various disciplines and designers to submit ideas in the categories "natural science and technology", "medicine and handling" and "design and function". Erik had chosen the category which related to his daily routine; "design and function".

"This category suited my role as a doctor and a student."

Between his residency at Dr. Kariadi Hospital and studies at Diponegoro University, he managed to squeeze in time to submit the full paper two hours before the deadline on July 15.

Erik's paper was among the 20 submissions from Indonesia, but the jury panel selected Erik's paper as the national winner based on it's clarity, applicability and efficiency.

"He has a clear concept, and it is applicable. Many papers also had good concepts, but they lacked application," said Djoni Darmajaya, one of the jurors.

"He offered a solution for the 'memory effect', which is a stiffness condition of sutures. This idea deserved a reward.

"Another interesting aspect of his design was that he investigated the use of biodegradable materials. I think he has the potential to win on the international stage," Djoni added.

Erik decided to "go green" by adopting environmentally-friendly materials for his design, and by shaping and reducing the size of conventional stitches to emit less energy in production.

By changing the form of the exterior foil in conventional packaging from rectangular to circular, Erik was able to reduce the size by up to 40 percent.

Furthermore, he replaced the petroleum-based plastic packaging with a bioplastic that can be reused and easily recycled.

For the first time, his design made it possible to place a used needle back into the suture holder. This achievement means hospitals can now send steel needles back to their manufacturing companies to be recycled.

"Used needles and other contaminated materials are usually burned in an incinerator. In fact, they can be recycled and this will save energy."

Erik said he had examined other suture samples with environmental considerations -- reduce, reuse and recycle -- in mind before he made the decision to use polylactic acid made from maize and soybeans as the materials for his design.

"Many manufacturers are only paying the environmental-friendly issue lip service ... Medical products are usually recommended by doctors, and many people do not care about the environmental impact."

B. Braun Medical Indonesia's president director A. Manogaran hailed Erik's ability to promote the environment in his design.

"A century ago, physicians still stitched wounds with sutures made from mutton's intestines. Today, a broad range of materials are available enabling not only the best care for the body, but also the environment," said A Manogaran.

The 30-year-old doctor will join 27 other international contestants at the award ceremony supported by the German and British national surgeons' associations.

The competition itself was held by the company to commemorate the introduction of industrially produced, sterile sutures by B. Braun exactly 100 years ago.

First prize takes home 100,000 euros, with 50,000 and 25,000 euro prizes for second and third-place winners respectively.

"I was interested in the competition because I wanted to know about the future of wound closure. It is great to know there are others who share my passion."

RI health minister elected to WHO

Sunday, May 20, 2007
INDONESIA: Indonesia's Health Minister, Siti Fadilah Supari, was unanimously elected as a member of the World Health Organization's executive board during the organization's 60th annual general assembly in Geneva.

"This success was due to support from WHO members for the Indonesian leadership when demanding a transparent and fair mechanism and framework for virus sample sharing based on prior informed consent and benefit-sharing principles for all members, especially developing countries," the Health Ministry said in a media statement, as quoted by the detik.com news portal Saturday.

"With the election of Indonesia as a member of the executive board of the WHO, it is hoped that Indonesia will play a more active role in world health issues and the WHO will support national policies to improve the quality of health in Indonesia," the statement said.

Indonesia has been elected as a member of the WHO's executive board five times, from 1954 to 1957, 1964 to 1967, 1973 to 1976, 1985 to 1988 and 1997 to 2000.

The 34-member executive board is tasked with overseeing the organization's policies and decisions, electing its director general and formulating its programs to be agreed upon by the World Health Assembly. -- JP

RI maternity death rate reduced

Thursday, May 03, 2007
Indonesia has slashed its maternal mortality rate over the last decade but has not yet met the Millennium Development Goals target of 102 per 100,000 live births by 2015.

"This shows that the quality of health in the country is still low. The maternal mortality rate is one of the main indicators in measuring the health status of a country. The government should pay more attention to this problem, as it reflects the performance of the government in the health sector," the head of the National Development Planing Board (Bappenas), Paskah Suzetta, told a seminar Wednesday.

In 1994, Indonesia's maternal mortality rate was 390 per 100,000 live births. By 2004 it had decreased to 307 per 100,000. However, the figure remains the highest among Southeast Asian countries. The Human Development Report from the United Nation's Development Program shows the Philippines at 170, Vietnam at 95, Thailand at 36 and Malaysia at 30.

To accelerate the reduction of maternal mortality rates, the government, through Bappenas, has devised a strategy drawing expertise from fields as diverse as health, education, demography and transportation.

Paskah said the government had taken some action to reduce the number of maternal deaths, such as through the Health Ministry's "Making Pregnancy Safer Program". This program increased access for pregnant women to skilled health personnel, provided reference services, prevented unwanted pregnancies and addressed complications.

However, he said, the program had not yet significantly decreased the maternal mortality rate due to a lack of policy concurrence between the health sector and other pertinent sectors.

Sri Astuti Suparmanto, director-general of public health at the Health Ministry, said the indirect factors in maternity deaths, such as the level of a mother's education and the subordinate position of women in society, play a significant role. They can lead to hemorrhaging, eclampsia, infection, puerperal complications and abortion.

"Many women die because they fail to recognize the danger signals and delay making decisions, so they are late to reach health services," said Sri Astuti.

Nasaruddin Umar, director-general of Islamic religious guidance at the Religious Affairs Ministry, said that based on his experience in the province of West Nusa Tenggara, many religious teachings required reinterpretation because they mislead people about reproductive health.

He said the implementation of strategies to decrease the maternal mortality rate should involve local religious leaders.

"Most development programs in Indonesia cannot succeed without using religious language," Nasaruddin said.

The strategy to accelerate reductions in maternal death rates was built through the mapping of determinant factors and the analysis of the relationships between these factors, while also learning from best practices in Indonesia and other countries.

"A professional strategy without people's commitment will not work, and people's commitment without a professional strategy is a waste of resources," Paskah Suzetta said. (02)

Teamwork required in HIV/AIDS fight

Wednesday, April 25, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Government is working toward greater cooperation with regional administrations in its effort to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS nationwide.

The Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, Aburizal Bakrie, who is also the head of the National AIDS Commission, said Indonesia needs to make a serious effort to trace the roots of the AIDS epidemic because of the alarming rate in which it infiltrating families.

"This problem requires personal, local and national attention and will not be overcome if we work alone," Aburizal said in a written speech delivered by the Secretary of the National AIDS Commission, Nafsiah Mboi, during a national coordination meeting of the commission at the Bumi Karsa hotel in Jakarta on Tuesday.

On January 19 this year Aburizal's office issued a ministerial regulation on national policy on AIDS prevention in order to address the growing problem more comprehensively. The National AIDS Commission also issued the National Strategy and Action Plan 2007-2010 on AIDS.

"We have already developed a common strategy and action plan. More or less we know what to do. However, the success of this program will depend on leadership, especially at the provincial, regional and city levels. We need to improve leadership and commitment in tracing the roots of the disease," Nafsiah told reporters after the opening ceremony.

Aburizal said a large amount of money is required to implement the National Action Plan.

"Currently the government is only able to provide 30 percent of what is required and the remaining 70 percent comes from foreign donors that may halt their support at any time. We hope that by 2010, 70 percent of funding will come from the state budget, the budgets of local administrations, the domestic private sector and the public," he said.

"The AIDS epidemic and drug abuse will undermine all of our development achievements if we close our eyes to these problems. However, we can curb the spread of AIDS if the government and the public seriously join together to prevent it."

Aburizal added that AIDS was first detected in Indonesia about 20 years ago but in 2006 the number of newly reported AIDS cases escalated.

In 2006, cases of AIDS were reported in all provinces in the country with the number of reported cases more than 193,000. Jakarta topped the list with 26,805 reported cases, followed by Papua with 21,487 cases, East Java with 15,699 cases and West Java with 14,341 cases. Gorontalo was at the bottom of the list with 462 reported cases.

About 94 percent of those infected with the disease are in the 15-49 age group.

He said the official number of AIDS victims in the country is most likely higher due to the fact that many cases go unreported as a result of a general lack of public knowledge, fear of discrimination and obstacles to reporting the disease.

Aburizal said AIDS prevention programs should focus on preventing the transmission of the disease through sexual encounters as well as continuing to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS through the use of intravenous devices.

Nasfiah said the aim of the meeting was to create a similar perception around the country concerning the threat of AIDS and to improve leadership in the war against the disease.

The meeting was also marked by the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the National AIDS Commission and 14 municipal administrations on preventing HIV/AIDS.

The National AIDS Commission was established on July 13, 2006, under Presidential Regulation No. 75/2006. Its duties include providing directions to the AIDS Commission at the provincial, district and municipal levels within the framework of central government efforts to prevent, control and manage the response to AIDS.

The commission is headed by the Minister of People's Welfare, with the Minister of Health and the Minister of Home Affairs as vice chairpersons and another 12 Ministers and 11 heads of agencies and boards as members. (02)

Court continues with trial to have medical law reviewed

Thursday, April 12, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Constitutional Court decided Wednesday to continue a trial involving a petition for a judicial review of the 2004 Law on Medical Practices.

The petition regards articles in the law that plaintiffs claim have infringed on the rights of both doctors and patients to provide and receive medical treatment.

The plaintiffs -- six specialist doctors and a patient -- claimed that five articles of the law were in conflict with the doctor's oath.

They said the articles deterred doctors from practicing, limited patients' access to services offered by doctors and also conflicted with the 1945 Constitution.

The petition was initially filed by Anny Isfandyarie Sarwono, a doctor from Malang, East Java, on March 9, 2007. She later won support from five more doctors and a diabetic patient who joined her as plaintiffs during the second Constitutional Court hearing on Wednesday.

They said that Article 37 of the law, which limits a doctor to practicing at a maximum of only three locations, did not take into consideration the differences in access to medical services throughout the country or the ratio of doctors to citizens.

"Whoever produced this law has closed their eyes to the fact that the ratio of doctors to people is very low and that the number of specialists is very limited," said Sumali, a lawyer representing one of the plaintiffs, during the hearing.

Recent data from the Indonesian Doctors Council shows that there are 63,116 doctors in Indonesia, which sets the ratio of doctors to people at 1:3,500. The ideal ratio is one doctor per 2,500 people.

Sumali said the law is feasible for big cities where there are many doctors, but was not suitable for many regions where doctors are lacking.

"There should be an exception. The lawmakers should have known that there are no laws that do not have exceptions," he said.

He also said that articles 75, 76 and 79 of the law had turned those doctors and dentists who are operating without a license, were not registered with local authorities and did not display sign-boards at their respective practices into criminals.

"Why would they be threatened with three years in jail or a Rp 100 million (about US$10,900) fine for a possible violation that cannot be referred to as crime, but rather as an administrative violation?" Sumali asked.

"These articles conflict with the obligations of the (medical) profession that require doctors to help anybody they possibly can. It is excessive and, therefore, is against the Constitution," Sumali told the hearing.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari, who appeared in court representing the government, disagreed with the plaintiffs and insisted that the articles of the law do not conflict with the doctor's oath or obstruct doctors from fulfilling their professional responsibilities.

"The government is aware of the ratio between doctors and people, but the law is aimed at providing better health services to the people and also at protecting doctors from carrying out false treatment due to weariness or exhaustion. Doctors are only human," Siti said during the trial.

Faiq Bahfen, the Health Ministry's inspector general, who also testified at the trial, said the law was designed to protect patients from unprofessional, mistake-prone treatment, to improve the quality of health services and to provide legal certainty for doctors and patients.

The Constitutional Court will summon more expert witnesses from several health-related institutions, and also allow the government as defendant and the plaintiffs to appoint their own expert witnesses to appear in court within the coming week.

Following the submission of the list of experts, the court will decide on a date for the next hearing. (02)

Bird flu sample row ends with agreement

Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia agreed Tuesday to resume sending bird flu samples to laboratories overseas after a two-day meeting on the issue organized by the World Health Organization.

Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said Indonesia expected a guarantee that the samples would not be used to develop commercial bird flu vaccines.

International scientists have said this makes it impossible to monitor the Indonesian virus to see if it is mutating into a more dangerous form.

"We will resume sharing bird flu samples with the World Health Organization immediately," Siti told reporters after two days of talks in which top WHO officials assured her the virus would not be misused.

"We trust the WHO will not violate our trust, because this is related to the WHO's credibility."

Siti has been demanding that the WHO change its 50-year-old virus sharing system, in which it collects regular flu samples from all over the world and makes them available to vaccine makers and others.

Indonesia -- which has the largest number of fatalities caused by bird flu, at 66 deaths -- received support from many developing countries when it suspended samples sharing.

The suspension came in after an Australian drugmaker produced a vaccine using the Indonesian strain of the bird flu virus without Jakarta's consent.

Indonesia has signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. drug maker Baxter Healthcare Corp to jointly develop a bird flu vaccine based on the Indonesian strain. (02)

WHO mediates bird flu vaccine argument

Tuesday, March 27, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Hoping to end a row triggered by Indonesia's decision to stop sharing bird flu virus samples, the World Health Organization is holding a two-day meeting to reach an agreement that ensures poor nations will get vaccines in the event of a pandemic.

Indonesia, the nation hardest hit by bird flu with 66 human deaths, has put the issue on the front burner by saying it will only share samples of the H5N1 virus if it has a guarantee they will not be used to make vaccines that will profit pharmaceutical companies or another country.

"The existing process in which the WHO and its affiliates share the virus isolates with private companies without collaboration with the countries from which virus samples originate is unacceptable for developing countries.

"This system places developing countries at a potential disadvantage in terms of price, access and supply. The rules of this system must be changed," Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said while opening the meeting at the Sultan Hotel in Jakarta on Monday.

Siti said the current regulations require countries to send virus samples to the WHO, but it has no corresponding regulation that requires collaboration with the originating country on the commercialization of resulting vaccines.

"Although it may be painful to address, it is a real problem that we must correct," she said.

The meeting was attended by government officials and experts from 18 countries, including Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the Philippines, Turkey and the USA.

David Heymann, assistant director general of the WHO, said the meeting had been convened by the WHO to discuss issues relating to the sharing of influenza viruses and the resulting benefits, including pandemic vaccines.

"It is critical that all developing countries have access to pandemic vaccines. At the same time, it is critical that the world share its novel influenza viruses for risk assessment, such as genetic sequencing and the classification of novel influenza viruses and for any sign of mutation that might be correlated with current knowledge," said Heymann.

Heymann said that one solution might be "stockpiles of pandemic vaccines in which industry would set aside a percentage of pandemic vaccines for developing country needs, with a guarantee of purchase from WHO."

However, the maximum capacity of production is between 400 million and 500 million doses per year, which is only enough to satisfy the demand in industrialized countries.

Sixteen manufacturers from 10 countries are developing prototype pandemic influenza vaccines against H5N1.

The WHO said bird flu has killed at least 169 people since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in 2003. (02)

Mental illness needs more attention: Health experts

Thursday, March 22, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has continued to pay little attention to the issue of mental illness despite the broader and prolonged impacts of trauma following with the recent string of disasters to hit the country, psychiatry experts have said.

Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Indonesia, Irmansyah, said Wednesday that the government should pay more attention to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

He said several traumatic events, such as riots, terror attacks, plane crashes, train wrecks, earthquakes, tsunamis and severe wind storms had left many Indonesians traumatized.

"We are not only fighting a lack of knowledge about mental health problems, but also stigma about the disease," he told The Jakarta Post.

Mental health theory shows that around 10 percent of those who experience a traumatic event will likely develop PTSD. The diagnosis of the disorder can take some time and it can often worsen to become a chronic, lifelong problem.

"The problem is that society does not recognize mental illness as a disease. We would be so ashamed to acknowledge that we have any kind of mental health problem," said Irmansyah.

He said that even though the World Health Organization (WHO) classified mental illness as a kind of disease, it was hard to get this idea across in Indonesia.

Irmansyah said the country's current high suicide rate showed the failure of the health system in detecting mental disorders in their early stages. "The shooting in Surabaya and the mother killing her children and herself in Malang are only the tip of the iceberg," he said.

The impacts of mental illness can be tremendous in society. Many social problems are correlated with mental health problems.

"An extreme example is the riot in Makassar in 1997, which was triggered when a mentally disturbed Chinese man killed a local girl," said Irmansyah.

Research has shown that in Indonesia, mental diseases decrease the nation's overall productivity by some 13 percent. However, budget allocations for mental health make up less than one percent of the government's health budget.

Last year, the University of Indonesia, together with several organizations affiliated with the Mental Health Advocacy Group, attempted to convince lawmakers of the importance of a mental health law, to no avail.

"We used to have a mental health law, which was established in 1962, but it was replaced by the 1992 Health Law because mental health was seen as a part of overall health. Within the enactment of the 1992 law, articles from the previous mental health law were supposed to have been enacted as government regulations, however this has not been done," said Irmansyah.

Irmansyah said that the country has only some 550 accredited psychiatrists, putting the ratio of psychiatrists to patients at 1:500,000. The ideal ratio is 1:30,000.

Mental health care is also not recognized in the national health insurance system. "For mental health problems, the medical treatment is often consultation. We need a system that recognizes such consultation as a form of medical treatment," said Suryo Dharmono, also of the University of Indonesia's Department of Psychiatry.

"This is evidence that the government does not really care about the problem. We are focusing on morbidity and forget that mental illness does not always result in fatality, but also has a destructive, long-term impact. We rarely count such a loss," he said.

Suryo said the University of Indonesia would initiate the nation's first medical psychiatric clinic this year, dedicated to handling addiction and trauma, among other problems.(02)

City confirms 19th death from bird flu

Saturday, March 17, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Laboratory tests have confirmed that a man who was being treated at a Jakarta hospital died Thursday of the H5N1 virus, an official confirmed Friday.

"He died on March 15 at Persahabatan Hospital," said I Nyoman Kandun, the Health Ministry's director general for disease control and environmental health.

The man's death brings the human bird flu death toll in the country to 65 out of 86 cases confirmed in the past two years.

The 32-year-old was a resident of Pondok Kelapa in East Jakarta. He fell sick on March 11, Kandun added.

He was admitted to Harum Hospital in East Jakarta on March 13, before being referred to Persahabatan Hospital the day after.

He is the 19th person to have died of avian flu in the city.

The ministry has yet to conclude how the man contracted the deadly virus.

In urban areas, people tend to be more mobile, making it difficult to look at all the circumstances surrounding bird flu cases.

"According to our records, the man had a pet parrot. But it has yet to be checked," Achmad Prihatna of the ministry's avian flu information center said.

A gubernatorial regulation issued in January requires residents to obtain a health certificate for their birds from the Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Agency.

The center could not say whether a certificate had been issued for the man's parrot.

Inspections of backyard poultry and pet birds started again Friday after stopping due to the floods in the city last month.

"We are giving residents two weeks to get their birds out of residential areas or apply for a health certificate," Governor Sutiyoso said Friday.

However, the regulation does not carry sanctions, he said.

"We are urging the City Council to ratify the bylaw on bird flu, because it would make it easier to take legal action," he said.

Agency head Edy Setyarto said the fact that people tried to hide their poultry and pet birds made it difficult to ensure that birds in the city were free from disease.

As of Friday, the agency had issued 3,595 health certificates, 50 percent higher than the Jakarta administration's estimation of the pet bird population in the city.

Currently, Jakarta is the only province that has moved to keep poultry away from residential areas, a process many have said will take time.

Backyard farming and keeping birds as pets is part of Indonesian culture, even in urban areas.

Although until today it has not been concluded how humans contract H5N1 from poultry, keeping them out of the home is currently the most effective way to minimize the risk.

Aside from that, people are encouraged to wash their hands with soap and water for 10 seconds after contact with birds, eat only eggs and poultry that have been cooked through and see a doctor if they have symptoms of the disease.(02)