Hospitals in Jakarta Nearing Full Capacity Before Start of Year-End Holiday

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s medical community has warned that hospitals in Jakarta are almost at full capacity handling Covid-19 patients despite there being not enough doctors available.

Chairman of the Indonesian Medical Association in Jakarta, Slamet Budiarto called for residents to be disciplined in adhering to health protocols as the capacity of government referral hospitals is nearing its peak.

For that reason, he asserted that residents remain at home, otherwise a surge in Covid-19 cases in Jakarta may send the capital city back into full lockdown again.

“If large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) are retightened then the economy will collapse again. Before that happens, please be mindful and remember to cherish yourself and your family.”

Read also: Jakarta Hospital Notes Link Between Rising Covid-19 Cases and New Strains

Families have emerged as a new source of Covid clusters in the past weeks in the city as many failed to adhere to health protocols such as social distancing and wearing a mask when they meet family members.

Slamet reminded Jakarta residents to uphold Covid-19 protocols even when they are with their core or extended families to prevent overcrowding at hospitals in Jakarta.

Covid-19 cases in Jakarta have been on the up, which Slamet believes is due to several factors.

Among them was the long holiday back in October followed by demonstrations and other incidents that drew crowds.

Read also: Important Things to Know about Year-End Holiday Restrictions in Jakarta

“From there, they infected their families. One person can infect 10 people.”

Head of the Jakarta Health Agency Widyastuti said that Covid-19 isolation beds in the city are at 85 percent while ICU rooms are at 80 percent.

These figures illustrate how hospitals in Jakarta have become quickly filled with Covid-19 patients before the official start of the year-holiday.

As of December 20, there are 6,663 isolation beds in which 5,691 are occupied.

Read also: Jakarta Extends Partial Lockdown until January 2021

The same situation is happening with the ICU beds at government referral hospitals where the capacity is at 80 percent with 722 Covid-19 patients occupying the 907 rooms available.

The plan for the provincial government is to add an extra 113 ICU beds and 508 isolation rooms in addition to having more medical workers on duty.

The number of Covid-19 cases in Jakarta as of December 22 reached 165,888 cases after 1,311 people became infected in the past 24 hours.

(Writer: Ihsanuddin | Editor: Jessi Carina)

Source: https://megapolitan.kompas.com/read/2020/12/22/18063541/idi-jakarta-rs-sudah-full-walau-dokter-cukup-tempatnya-enggak-ada?page=all#page2