115 Doctors Died, IDI: 300 Thousand People Lost Services

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Mitigation Team for the Executive Board of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) Adib Khumaidi, said that currently there are 115 doctors who have died from COVID-19. This, he said, resulted in 300 thousand people losing health services.

"There are 115 doctors, assuming 1 doctor serves 2500, this illustrates that nearly 300 thousand people will lose medical services," said Adib in a written statement, Monday, September 14.

The calculation is that currently Indonesia only has 4 doctors serving 10 thousand Indonesians. In fact, currently the ratio of specialist doctors is 0.13 per 1,000 population.

This proves that the number of doctors in Indonesia is below standard. In fact, the number is the second lowest in Southeast Asia.

"Doctors are an asset of the nation, the investment to produce doctors and specialist doctors is very expensive. Losing doctors will certainly result in decreased quality of service for the Indonesian people," said Adib.

In addition, the distribution of medical and health personnel is also concentrated in Java and big cities.

Therefore, he asked the government to strive to protect doctors and other health workers who are currently handling the COVID-19 outbreak.

"The government needs to be firm in making concrete steps in the protection and safety of doctors and other health workers," said Adib.

Most importantly, said Adib, the government can guarantee the need for doctors in dealing with COVID-19 patients, which is currently homework for professional organizations and specialist associations.

In addition, Adib also still encourages the government to form a National Committee for the Protection and Safety of Medical and Health Workers. This is needed to prevent an increase in the number of health workers who have died.

"This committee is tasked with integrating all health stakeholders to focus on protection and safety as well as monitoring efforts," said Adib.