AVIAN INFLUENZA - MINISTRY OF HEALTH PROHIBITS SAMPLE

UNCLAS JAKARTA 003452 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, G/AIAG AND OES USAID FOR ANE/CLEMENTS AND GH/CARROLL DEPT ALSO PASS TO HHS/WSTEIGER/ABHAT/MSTLOUIS AND HHS/NIH GENEVA FOR WHO/HOHMAN USDA/FAS/OSTA BRANT, ROSENBLUM USDA/APHIS ANNELLI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO AMED CASC EAGR AMGT PGOV ID SUBJECT: AVIAN INFLUENZA - MINISTRY OF HEALTH PROHIBITS SAMPLE SHARING WITHOUT MATERIALS TRANSFER AGREEMENT ¶1. (SBU) Indonesian Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari has reportedly issued instructions regulating the shipment of any biological samples outside of the country or the sharing of samples with foreign institutions without governmental permission and a signed Materials Transfer Agreement (MTA) between the parties involved. According to Ministry of Health (MOH) officials, Supari convened a meeting December 17 with the deans of medical schools, directors of major hospitals and senior members of the Ministries of Health and Research and Technology to inform them of the new requirement. Each governmental department is reportedly responsible for developing and negotiating their own MTAs with foreign partners. ¶2. (SBU) This decision will make it harder to share H5N1-infected human samples. The impact may be less on suspected H5N1-infected agricultural samples, for which signed MTAs currently exist. But even for agricultural samples, obtaining export permission can be problematic. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO),for example, has a large collection of samples with signed MTAs. It is waiting for an export permit from the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) to send the samples to reference laboratories. FAO has reported delays in getting export permission since its last shipment in June 2007. In a December 18 meeting with FAO and USAID, the MOA Director General of Livestock Services Dr. Tjeppy promised to meet with the agricultural minister to get permission to export the samples. HUME