Foreign and Military Affairs

Indonesia looking to work with China on liver transplants

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-28 13:44

JAKARTA - Indonesian Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said that the country is looking to work with China in fight against liver disease, local media reported here on Monday.

"As nations in the Asia Pacific region, Indonesia and China share the same burden, which is that they are in an hepatitis-B-endemic region. Thus cooperation between the two countries, ranging from prevention to treatment, needs to be developed further," the minister was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying at a China-Indonesia Hepatobiliary Medicine and Surgery symposium.

Since Indonesia initiated a hepatitis B immunization program in 1997, the prevalence of the disease has declined among children under four from 6.2 percent to 1.4 percent, according to the data issued by the Health Ministry.

Hepatitis Infection affects the liver and in some cases can require patients to undergo liver transplant operations.

In term of human resources, Indonesia is currently capable of conducting such operations, but lacks the necessary equipment, the minister said.

China, meanwhile, has a reputation for having carried out successful liver transplants.

There are currently 22 million people in Indonesia infected with hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C. Of them 10 percent are carriers and half of that 10 percent have chronic cases.