JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesia´s health ministry has confirmed the 25th bird flu death as a doctor warned that urgent action was needed to stem the spread of the virus.

The latest victim was a 30-year-old resident of Jakarta´s satellite town of Tangerang who died last month at the main hospital for treating bird flu patients, said Joko Suyono from the health ministry´s information center.

"We were contacted by the WHO (     World Health Organization) office in Jakarta yesterday (Sunday) over the laboratory results... which came out positive," he told AFP on Monday.

"He is confirmed as Indonesia´s 25th bird flu fatality."

The confirmation of the man´s death was an indicator that the government "is not doing enough" in combatting bird flu, said Ilham Patu, a doctor and spokesman for Sulianti Saroso hospital, where the latest victim died.

Indonesia, the world´s fourth most populous nation, has witnessed more bird flu deaths than any other country this year and has the second highest number of fatalities reported in the world since 2003, after Vietnam.

WHO´s Asia chief last weekend warned that the sprawling archipelago nation needed to work harder at the grassroots level to act against H5N1.

Shigeru Omi, Western Pacific director of the WHO, said in Vietnam that "when it comes to the political commitment or engagement at the district level, some countries, like Indonesia certainly, are (doing) less than what the central government wanted to have, and this is also the case in China."

The head of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) also warned last month that Indonesia has become a bird flu "time-bomb" because of its failure to eradicate the virus from numerous areas.

Patu said the government "should pay attention" to the OIE warning.

"What the OIE says is true because until now our health minister (Siti Fadilah Supari) cannot properly explain why we have the highest number of deaths from bird flu for this year, as opposed to other countries," Patu said.

"They (officials) must work harder and be more anticipative in preparing all the necessary means to prevent a major outbreak," he told AFP.

Most deaths in Indonesia have been in the capital and its surroundings, where many people live in close proximity to poultry despite the urban environment.

Experts fear that bird flu, which has killed more than 100 people since late 2003, mostly in Asia, may mutate into a form that can pass easily between humans, sparking a deadly pandemic.