Usability Of National Scale COVID-19 Care Beds Still 42.3 Percent

JAKARTA - Acting Director (Plt) Director General of Health Services of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Abdul Kadir said that the capacity of the COVID-19 treatment bed on a national scale was not yet full.

Kadir said, the use of isolation beds and intensive care unit (ICU) specifically for COVID-19 still reached 42.3 percent, out of 839 COVID-19 referral hospitals in Indonesia.

"The occupancy rate for hospital isolation rooms serving COVID-19 has only reached 42.3 percent. This capacity is considered sufficient for the time being," Kadir said in a virtual discussion, Tuesday, September 1.

That means, there are still 37 percent filled COVID-19 care beds towards the 80 percent vulnerability threshold set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The assumption is that it will take 182 days or five months from the treatment of the first COVID-19 case in Indonesia until the filling of the COVID-19 bed reaches 42.3.

It is possible that Indonesia will reach the threshold for vulnerability to the use of COVID-19 care beds in the next five months in January 2021 and 100 percent used in February 2021.

"Thus, it is not true that the issue that all hospitals are full. It is all hoax," said Kadir.

There is also one area with high use of COVID-19 care beds is DKI Jakarta. As of August 28, the use of isolation room beds for COVID-19 patients reached 69 percent, while the use of ICU beds for patients with severe symptoms reached 77 percent.

In order to prevent congestion at the referral hospital, the COVID-19 Handling Task Force has plans to transfer patients with mild to moderate cases to the Wisma Atlet Hospital, Kemayoran, Jakarta.

With this transfer, it is hoped that the number of use of beds in isolation and ICU rooms can be reduced to below 60 percent.

In addition, by relocating patients with milder symptoms, the ICU and isolation rooms can be used for other COVID-19 patients who need more intensive care and assistance.