Nurse In Garut Beaten By Family Of A COVID Patient With Jaw Bruises, Deputy Head Of District Helmi Murka: People Wanted!

Garut Deputy Regent Helmi Budiman (Photo: ANTARA)

GARUT - Deputy Regent of Garut Helmi Budiman supports the efforts of the authorities to process the law in the case of beating a nurse at the Pameungpeuk Health Center, Garut Regency, West Java, who was carrying out the task of handling COVID-19 patients.

"This is the first time that a nurse was beaten when handling a COVID-19 patient in Garut Regency, the legal process will continue," Helmi said in Garut, as reported by Antara, Thursday, June 24.

The violent action against nurses at the Pameungpeuk Health Center was caught on surveillance cameras installed at the puskesmas. The video of the beating was then spread to the wider community through the WhatsApp application.

The 24-second video shows a nurse dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) treating a patient and lying on a bed.

Someone suspected of being the patient's family was seen hitting the nurse with his bare hands and then being interrupted by someone else, then the perpetrator walked away.

Helmi admitted that he was aware of the beating incident that occurred on Wednesday, June 23 yesterday. The case of violence against health workers, he said, has received special handling by the police by looking for the perpetrators.

"Now the person is being sought," he said. Regarding the condition of the beating victim based on the post-mortem, he said, the jaw was bruised due to being hit by a hand.

"The post-mortem results from the nurse who was beaten by the family of a COVID-19 patient had bruises on his jaw," said Helmi.

He regretted the incident of beatings of health workers who should have received support in the midst of the current surge in cases of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Helmi appealed to the public to work together in overcoming the COVID-19 outbreak by complying with health protocols and providing support to health workers so that they remain enthusiastic about serving COVID-19 patients.

"We regret the incident. We have to provide 'support' to them because many of our officers have been affected by COVID-19," he said.

Helmi hopes that similar incidents will not happen again in Garut Regency or other areas because health workers are needed to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak.

"They have a lot of work and patients are increasing, many officers are now affected by COVID-19, especially nurses, doctors, then they are struggling to avoid the attitude of unscrupulous people," he said.