Indonesia Needs Millions Of PPE To Face COVID-19

Illustrations (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD stated that the government lacks personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical personnel to face the corona virus or COVID-19.

According to Mahfud, the national reserve of 19 thousand units of personal protective equipment is deemed insufficient. Therefore, the government needs hundreds of thousands to millions of personal protective equipment for their safety against corona patients.

"We need millions or at least hundreds of thousands, according to the meeting if we estimate it pessimistically, for example, this situation will last for several months. We need millions," Mahfud said in a video conference with journalists, Friday, March 27.

Therefore, the government will import or, produce its own personal protective equipment.

Mahfud also mentioned the limitations of a ventilator or breathing apparatus for COVID-19 positive patients in severe conditions. He said, the existence of ventilators is currently being contested around the world during the corona virus pandemic.

"Not only PPE but ventilators are also being fought over. In our world today, we are working on it because that is not enough," said Mahfud.

He said, the death rate in Indonesia due to COVID-19 was so high because many patients did not get ventilators.

"Now, we are bringing it in. Many overseas also did not receive a ventilator. Earlier we read data from abroad that many did not get a ventilator," he said without disclosing the data he meant.

To date, the government has distributed 151 thousand personal protective equipment for medical personnel to 36 regions in Indonesia and the distribution is carried out by the TNI.

"From 170 thousand stocks up to this morning, 151 thousand have been distributed. So, the national reserves are 19 thousand PPE," said Paban IV / Domestic Operations, TNI Operations Staff Col. Aditya Nindra Pasha at the BNPB Building, Jakarta, Thursday, March 27.

Based on data from the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19, DKI Jakarta received PPE of 40 thousand. Meanwhile, West Java received the distribution of this medical device of 15 thousand.

Then for Central Java and East Java, they get PPE distribution of 10 thousand. Furthermore, Bogor, Banten, Yogyakarta and Bali received 5,000 PPE per each region.

Not only that, the TNI has also distributed 2,000 PPE to each area such as Aceh, Riau, West Sumatra, Riau Islands, Jambi, Bengkulu, South Sumatra, Bangka Belitung, Lampung, NTB, NTT, North Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan. , South Kalimantan, West Kalimantan.

The same amount was also distributed to Gorontalo, Southeast Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, North Maluku, Maluku and West Papua regions.

Even though it has been distributed, there are still some regions that have not taken the PPE. Among them, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, South Sumatra, Gorontalo and Central Sulawesi.