DKI Asks The Center To Increase Covid-19 Treatment Capacity In Bodetabek, What Is The Reason?

DKI Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria (DOK.VOI / Diah Ayu)

JAKARTA - Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria admitted that he had contacted the Chairman of the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and Economic Recovery (KCP-PEN) Airlangga Hartato to increase the capacity for COVID-19 treatment in Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Bodetabek).

"Hopefully the central government will help to increase the capacities of areas outside Jakarta, whether the hospital, the health personnel, the hospital bed, or the ICU," said Riza in North Jakarta, Wednesday, January 27.

There is also a reason for the request for additional COVID-19 treatment occupancy in the buffer area because currently the use of DKI's COVID-19 special care beds has exceeded the worry limit, reaching 86 percent.

The high use of beds is due to 30 percent of positive confirmed patients from outside Jakarta who undergo isolation or are treated in the ICU belonging to DKI.

If the occupancy of isolation beds and the COVID-19 ICU outside the area can be increased, the number of non-DKI patients being treated in Jakarta could decrease. Thus, the use of COVID-19 treatment in the capital could be reduced to 55 to 60 percent.

"With the support of the central government which will help the Bodetabek area, the occupancy in DKI will decrease. That is what we hope, God willing, this can be realized in the future," he explained.

Riza emphasized that his party is currently working to improve health facilities to deal with COVID-19 patients, including the availability of health workers who treat them.

"We are trying to increase the referral hospital to 40, even 50 percent more. Hospitals that are not yet a referral hospital, we ask, have started the process of becoming a referral hospital," said Riza.

Then, currently DKI is also asking the Ministry of Tourism to be able to add hotel facilities as a place for independent isolation of COVID-19 patients for free.