To Increase Jakarta's COVID-19 Bed Capacity, The Government Moves The Emergency Rooms To The Emergency Tents

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the government had changed the emergency room (IGD) into an isolation room for COVID-19 patients at hospitals in Jakarta.

This was done after coordinating with the Governor of DKI Jakarta Anies Baswedan, Head of National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB) Ganip Warsito, Regional Police Chief Metro Jaya Inspector General Fadil Imran, and military Area Command (Pangdam) Jaya Maj. Gen. Mulyo Aji.

"We will convert all emergency rooms, emergency rooms, into isolation rooms. Thus, normal treatment can be carried out there to accommodate patients who have been admitted to the hospital, receiving treatment like in ordinary rooms", Budi said in a virtual press conference, Friday, June 25.

Meanwhile, emergency room patients who need immediate help will be placed in emergency tents built around the hospital.

"For the emergency room service, we have decided to build a tent outside the hospital so that those who want to be checked can go there instead of going to the emergency room, because this will be used as an additional bed", said Budi.

On this occasion, Budi also appointed three large government-owned hospitals to convert all of their treatment beds to special treatment for COVID-19 patients.

"We are converting three major government hospitals, namely Fatmawati Hospital, Sulianti Saroso Hospital, and Friendship Hospital to become 100 percent hospitals that handle COVID-19", he explained.

Thus, there are hundreds of new beds complete with equipment, doctors, and experienced nurses to be able to serve sick COVID-19 patients in DKI Jakarta.

"It is hoped that this week the conversion can be completed, so that it can increase the number of beds to serve the people of Jakarta which are already complete, directly with facilities and health workers", he said.

Based on data held by the Ministry of Health as of June 24. There are 94.420 beds specifically for COVID-19 patients, both isolation beds and ICU beds.

On average, the national bed occupancy rate is 67 to 70 percent. However, there are several provinces with bed occupancy above 80 percent.

Provinces with the lowest bed capacity are DKI Jakarta with 90 percent of beds, West Java 88 percent, Banten 87 percent, Central Java 85 percent, DI Yogyakarta 85 percent.