Indonesia Highlights: Indonesian Doctors Association: Covid-19 Killed Over 700 Medical Personnel | Indonesian Health Minister to Offer Sinovac and Pfizer Vaccines for Child Jab | Indonesia Adds Isolat

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia's medical establishment continues to reel from Covid-19, as the Indonesian Doctors Association or IDI announced that the pandemic killed over 700 doctors and nurses 

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin has offered the Sinovac and Pfizer vaccines to vaccinate Indonesian children who are vulnerable to the Delta variant of Covid-19.

And the government added 7,000 isolation rooms at low cost housing units in Jakarta to ease the strain that Covid-19 imposes on the Wisma Atlet Covid-19 Emergency Hospital.

This and more on Indonesia Highlights:

KOMPAS.com/NURWAHIDAH 2 Indonesian medical workers in personal protective equipment (PPE)

Indonesian Doctors Association: Covid-19 Killed Over 700 Medical Personnel

The Indonesian Doctors Association or IDI and the Indonesian National Nurses Association (PPNI) revealed that Covid-19 have killed over 700 Indonesian medical workers, since it was first detected in Indonesia on March 2020.

“The total number of doctors who were killed by Covid-19 currently stands at 401,” said IDI Secretary-General M. Adib Khumaidi on Friday, June 25. He added that the figures ran from March 12 2020, to June 24 2021.

“The pandemic also killed 315 nurses.”

Adib suggested that medical personnel take extra precautions in handling Covid-19 cases.

“I urge doctors, nurses and other medical workers to constantly use Personal Protective Equipment [PPE] on the job,” he asserted. “I also advise our colleagues who are 65 years old and over to stay at home, or be on call when we ask for their aid.”

The number of fatalities has risen from by more than 200, since the last statistics for fatalities among medical personnel was taken in January 2021.

The figures, which covered the time period between March to December 2020, showed that 504 doctors and nurses were killed treating Covid-19 since the outbreak's detection in Indonesia in March 2020.

Source:

https://go.kompas.com/read/2021/06/26/042349174/indonesian-doctors-association-covid-19-killed-over-700-medical-personnel. 

ANTARA FOTO/MUHAMMAD IQBAL Indonesia's Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin speaks during a press conference in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta. ANTARA/Muhammad Iqbal/aww.

Indonesian Health Minister to Offer Sinovac and Pfizer Vaccines for Child Jab

Indonesian Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the government "is considering the use of the Sinovac and Pfizer vaccines for children," following findings that kids are particularly vulnerable to the Delta variant of the pandemic.

"We will be observing how the United States and European countries carry out vaccinations to children, or whether they will vaccinate them according to their [age] groups," Budi asserted.

He cited global statistics which showed that Covid-19 recovery rates in children aged 18 years and under showed 99 percent of them can be cured, as compared to those age group 18 years and over. 

Previously, the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) and the Indonesian Pediatirician Association (IDAI) has urged the government to administer Covid-19 vaccines to children.

"The Covid-19 vaccine is safe for children. The policy should start immediately and be carried out simultaneously with the start of face-to-face classes," said IDI chairman Daeng M Faqih.

"The vaccines should orientate the faculty and students of schools about the measure's importance along with health protocol, along with need to sterilize the school grounds."

Indonesia's recent Covid-19 surge has thrown the government's plan to start face-to-face classes for the 2021-2022 school year in limbo.

Source:

https://go.kompas.com/read/2021/06/26/021716674/indonesian-health-minister-to-offer-sinovac-and-pfizer-vaccines-for-child-jab?page=all#page2. 

KOMPAS.COM/ IRA GITA Wisma Atlet Covid-19 Emergency Hospital Commander Naval Lieutenant Colonel M. Arifin inspects a self-isolation room at the Nagrak low-cost housing complex on Friday (18/6/2021).

Indonesia Adds Isolation Wards in Designated Low-Cost Housing

The Indonesian Ministry of Health has added an extra 7,000 isolation beds, a day after the country noted its largest number of daily Covid-19 cases at 20,574 on Thursday, June 24.

“The number is twice as much as those in the Wisma Atlet Emergency Hospital in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta,” said Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin in a virtual press conference Friday.

“The isolation wards, which are for asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms, are located in low-cost housing complexes at the Nagrak and Pasar Rumput areas. 4,000 of the beds are in the former, while the remainder, or 3,000 beds, make up the latter.”

Budi hopes the new isolation wards can ease the pressure on Wisma Atlet,

He added that Wisma Atlet will treat patients with moderate symptoms, while those with more serious symptoms will be treated at Jakarta hospitals designated to treat Covid-19 cases. The government has designated the Fatmawati, Sulianti Saroso, and Persahabatan hospitals as centers to treat Covid-19.

Jakarta led the way in the pandemic’s recent daily surge, with 7,505 new cases.

Source:

https://go.kompas.com/read/2021/06/26/062555074/indonesia-adds-isolation-wards-in-designated-low-cost-housing.