Health Workers Focus On Handling Corona, IDI Predicts The Death Rate Of Non-COVID-19 Patients To Increase

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JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian Doctors Association (PB IDI) Executive Mitigation Team (PB IDI), Adib Khumaidi, predicts that there will be an increase in the death rate for patients with diseases other than COVID-19 in the future.

"Currently, all health facilities are concentrated for COVID-19, even human resources are concentrated on COVID-19. It is not impossible that this will become a risk in the future, the morbidity and mortality rates for non-COVID-19 will increase," said Adib in the discussion. virtual, Tuesday, January 5.

This prediction is based on recent case developments. There are 110,089 active cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia. Reportedly, many COVID-19 referral hospitals or isolation places are full and can no longer accommodate COVID-19 patients for the time being.

To deal with this, the government has re-allocated treatment rooms in public health facilities to become special treatment for COVID-19 to increase the caring capacity of corona virus patients.

As a result, people suffering from diseases other than COVID-19 will find it increasingly difficult to find a place for treatment. Thus, the potential for mortality or mortality for patients with diseases outside of COVID-19 is predicted to increase.

"Because we know, there are also many chronic disease problems. So, it is not impossible that it will become a problem in the future," said Adib.

Therefore, Adib assesses that the government is not sufficient to solve the problem of treating COVID-19 patients by simply allocating hospital beds.

The government, said Adib, should focus more on increasing testing and contact tracing to break the chain of transmission of COVID-19. Then, ensure compliance with health protocols carried out by the community.

"The duration of this pandemic will be long. WHO has also warned of the risks. So, there are things we must do that intervention in the upstream area is also an important part. The key is compliance with protocols in the community," said Adib.

"If we just concentrate on the downstream, no country will be able to overcome it only by increasing the capacity of health facilities and human resources. Because, we know this limitation will inevitably occur," he added.