(AFP)
Updated: 2005-12-13 17:05

Southeast Asian countries said they would create a network to link stockpiles of Tamiflu so that the drug can be sent quickly through the region to battle any human outbreaks of bird flu.

The measure, agreed at the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), would allow nations in need to get supplies of the anti-retroviral treatment on very short notice.

"The feeling is that with bird flu, we want to have adequate availability of medicine to cure people," Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon told reporters late Monday.

"Countries will come in and participate in the planning of how the medicine could be distributed. We're looking at it not so much from just a national level but more on a regional level," he said.

Tamiflu is considered the most effective treatment available for the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus, which has killed more than 70 people in Asia since 2003. Indonesia confirmed another bird flu death on Tuesday.

Scientists warn that continued contact between infected birds and humans may eventually result in the virus mutating into a form that could be easily passed on by humans, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions.

Kantathi said that nations with sufficient stockpiles could send supplies to others in need, making them "available to be distributed to any potential affected area in a very short period of time."

"So everyone will come and say, 'I have this much, I need this much just for the country' and maybe we could use a system in which we can distribute" the drug, he said.

ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong said coordinated efforts were required so that every nation would not have to build up major supplies the drug.

"There is networking required because the sense is that it is going to be a tremendous drain on resources if every country will stockpile medicines, hospital supply or anti viral drugs," Ong told reporters.

"We are trying to find a way to do it in a very effective and economical way," he said.