Concern For Medical Workers Handling COVID-19

JAKARTA - The sad news arises from the scope of medical personnel who are at the forefront of handling the corona virus or COVID-19. A nurse was declared dead due to contracting COVID-19.

The nurse is a Bekasi resident who is assigned to a hospital in Jakarta. Before dying, the nurse was included in the COVID-19 patient under surveillance (PDP) category.

The Board of Experts of the Indonesian Public Health Expert Association (IAKMI), Hermawan Saputra, said that the government was too focused on patients so that it slightly forgot the needs of medical personnel. One thing that has been overlooked is the availability of safety equipment or clothing for medical personnel. This is what makes medical personnel face a high risk in dealing with corona patients.

So far, he said, the hospital which is the reference place for handling the corona virus has provided independent safety clothing. So, this makes treatment and preventing the spread of COVID-19 considered not optimal.

"The government seems to pay less attention to medical personnel. One example is the provision of personal protective equipment. Currently they (hospitals) are still operating on their own," Hermawan told VOI, Tuesday, March 17.

For that, he advised the government to prepare the necessary needs for medical personnel in the process of treating patients. In addition, the government is required to consolidate all medical personnel who handle COVID-19. The goal is that they understand what to do and there are no communication errors in the handling of patients.

This was done because at this time the corona virus no longer had an impact on health. But they started to attack the public psyche which made them come to referral hospitals to carry out medical tests related to COVID-19.

"In essence, the government's homework must consolodize medical personnel so that there is no accumulation of services, so that the medical personnel are not surprised and can perform optimally"

Indonesian Public Health Expert Association (IAKMI) Expert Council Hermawan Saputra

The increasing number of patients under surveillance (PDP) every day has made the government change the method of treatment by combining several positive COVID-19 patients in one room. Hermawan criticized this plan because of the unpreparedness of the facilities and medical personnel.

"Whatever the plan, it must be prepared carefully so that later the maintenance will run optimally," said Hermawan.

Most importantly, the government must move quickly so that the spread of COVID-19 does not become more massive. In addition, the government must continue to hold command of the standard operational procedure (SOP) for handling the corona outbreak.

"Regardless of the treatment, the most important thing is that the government must take command in handling it," said Hermawan.

This kind of criticism also comes from the DPR. Deputy Chairman of the DPR, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, urged the government to issue a standard operational procedure (SOP) for handling Covid-19 patients to be maximized, still paying attention to the safety of medical personnel and not becoming victims.

"One of them is the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) according to standards," said Dasco in his statement, Monday (16/3/2020)

According to him, it also needs to be regulated regarding the working hours of medical personnel. This Gerindra Party politician said that the regulation of medical workers' working hours is important for maintaining their health. "Because, if working hours are not observed, it will be difficult for them to maintain their immunity and are prone to falling ill and being infected with viruses," he said.

Previously, the government's spokesperson for the handling of the corona virus, Achmad Yurianto, announced the plan to merge positive corona patients. According to him, with the increase in the number of patients, the isolation pattern will change according to the current condition.

Later, the treatment or isolation pattern will no longer use the old terminology, namely one person occupying one isolation room. Positive patients will be placed in a room that has negative pressure.

"We will make a room, maybe several people are put there. However, we believe that all of them are positive for COVID-19," said Yuri.