August 23, 2005
Indonesia launches text message hotline to keep tabs on disease
Indonesia's health ministry launched a hotline to let the public report disease outbreaks and lodge complaints about health care using mobile phone text messages, reports the AFP.
"Indonesia, where mobile phone usage is skyrocketing, is in the midst of a struggle to halt outbreaks of polio, bird flu and dengue fever.
"With this SMS service, we hope that the health ministry will not be less informed than journalists," Supari was quoted as saying.
In June Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was forced to create an SMS hotline after the personal cellphone number he gave out to the public was overwhelmed with complaints.
Yudhoyono had earlier urged Indonesians to complain to him directly about red tape or inept officials, saying that his mobile telephone was on around-the-clock.
But the line soon crashed after it was inundated by thousands of SMS text messages and calls.
Related articles:
-- What did he think was going to happen?
-- Yudhoyono urges Indonesians to send text messages about officials
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