Rahayu Saraswati Hopes OTG Isolation In Hotels Can Be Covered By The City Government Of Tangsel

JAKARTA - South Tangerang deputy mayor candidate Rahayu Saraswati Djojohadikusumo asked the South Tangerang City Government to bear the cost of self-isolation for COVID-19 People Without Symptoms (OTG) in hotels using the Regional Budget (APBD).

Moreover, this method has been used by the Regent of Tangerang, Ahmed Zeki, to prevent the emergence of family clusters from growing.

"The City Government of Tangsel can follow the method of Tangerang Regency Regent Ahmed Zeki, who uses the Regional Budget to finance OTG independent isolation at Hotel Jasmin Tangerang. So in addition to helping patients, the City Government is also helping the hotel business in Tangsel, which this year is decreasing occupancy," said Sara in a statement. he wrote, Thursday, September 17.

In addition, the Deputy Chairperson of the Gerindra Party believes that hotels in the South Tangerang area are able to carry out independent isolation because there are also quite a lot of hotels. So, by being placed in a hotel, people who are exposed to the virus but have no symptoms can rest while still getting assistance from health workers.

"The data that I read in Tangsel there are dozens of star and non-star hotels. From this number there could be around thousands of rooms. This means that if only half of the rooms were prepared for the independent isolation of OTGs in Tangsel, it would be very helpful," he said .

Furthermore, Sara also assessed that the Tangsel City Government must be aware of the importance of 3T or testing, tracing, and treatment in handling COVID-19. Moreover, currently many people are starting to become OTGs.

Previously, regarding the use of hotels as a means of independent isolation, the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani said that he had allocated an additional budget of IDR 3.5 trillion for the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB). These funds include paying for the use of hotel rooms for mild COVID-19 patients or people without symptoms (OTG).

"The budget allocated for an additional Rp3.5 trillion for BNPB certainly includes the anticipation of the possibility of using hotels for patient isolation rooms," he said in a video conference with journalists, Tuesday, September 15.

Meanwhile, Airlangga Hartarto, Head of COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery, has ensured that the government's health capacity is not limited and is available to the public. According to him, the government will continue to add health facilities.

"The government emphasizes that there is no limited health capacity, the government has sufficient funds. The government will increase the bed capacity, the government will convince all regions including DKI Jakarta," he said at a press conference at the BNPB Building, Thursday, September 10.

According to Airlangga, the government will also use 2 and 3 star hotels as treatment rooms if the capacity at the hospital is no longer sufficient to accommodate positive COVID-19 patients such as in South Sulawesi or Central Java.

"The central government pays serious attention to the development of the situation and always improves hospitals and health facilities. We will continue to add facilities at the hotel, including utilizing 2 and 3 star hotels," he said.