The Government Has Prepared Three Additional Towers For Athletes' Houses As A COVID-19 Emergency Hospital

Photo illustration (Source: kemenpupr.go)

JAKARTA - The increasing number of positive COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, especially in DKI Jakarta, forces the authorities to move further. The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) is currently preparing an additional three towers at Wisma Atlet Kemayoran, Jakarta as a COVID-19 Emergency Hospital.

"The PUPR Ministry will again prepare and renovate three additional towers, namely towers 2, 4 and 5 Wisma Atlet Kemayoran as a Covid-19 Emergency Hospital," said Director General of Housing of the PUPR Ministry, Khalawi Abdul Hamid, in a written statement, Thursday, April 9.

The construction of the second phase of the COVID-19 Emergency Hospital, said Khalawi, was carried out to increase the capacity of patients and provide proper housing for health workers such as doctors and nurses who are on duty 24 hours at the hospital.

Tower 2, he explained, will be occupied by doctors and nurses with a capacity of 886 units and can accommodate as many as 2,458 health workers. Meanwhile, Tower 4 and Tower 5 will be used as inpatient rooms and each tower has a capacity of 886 units and can accommodate 2,458 patients.

Furthermore, the Ministry of PUPR will also improve the function of Tower 6 of the Kemayoran Athlete House. On the first floor of the tower, an Emergency Room (IGD) will be provided. Then, on the 2nd floor an ICU room will also be built and the 3rd floor will be used as a recovery room. Furthermore, the other 24 floors in Tower 6 will be used as patient isolation rooms.

"This stage is a very important point because it must be considered in its construction and produce a room with negative pressure or negative pressure," he said.

The work process for the construction of the three towers, said Khalawi, will be completed next week. "We estimate that the preparatory work for the additional three towers for the COVID-19 Emergency Hospital will be completed next week, which is around Saturday, April 18, 2020," he said.

Reduction in the number of patients treated

Regarding the number of patients being treated at this emergency hospital, the Commander of the Joint Regional Defense Command (Pangkogabwilhan) I Laksdya TNI Yudo Margono stated that there is a reduction in the number of patients being treated at this time. If on Wednesday, April 8 there were 527 patients being treated, currently, Wisma Atlet Kemayoran COVID-19 Emergency Hospital is treating 525 patients.

"The number of patients being treated has decreased by 5," said Yudo Margono when confirmed by reporters.

Furthermore, the number of People Under Monitoring (ODP) decreased by 9 people and Patients Under Supervision (PDP) decreased by 12 people.

Although the reduction has occurred, however, the number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 has actually increased. If on Wednesday, April 8, the number of confirmed people was 318, now the number has increased by 16 to 334 people.

The COVID-19 Emergency Hospital, Wisma Atlet Kemayoran, previously only operated four towers, namely Tower 1 as the Sub-Task Force for the Acceleration of Covid-19 Handling, Tower 3 was for the residence of doctors and nurses as well as a paramedic team.

Meanwhile, Tower 6 and Tower 7 are for the COVID-19 Emergency Hospital. This hospital has been operational since March 23 and was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo.