Entering The Red Zone And High Risk Of COVID, Malang City Health Office Continues To Increase Bed Capacity

Documentation - Head of Malang City Health Office, Dr. Husnul Muarif. (ANTARA/HO-Malang City Government Public Relations)

MALANG - Malang City Health Service stated that it continues to increase the capacity of beds used to treat patients exposed to the new variant of COVID.

Head of the Malang City Health Office, Dr. Husnul Muarif, said that currently the total available beds in Malang City for handling COVID-19 are more than 900 units.

"Additional beds are always carried out by referral hospitals. Previously there were approximately 800, now it is over 900," he said in Malang City, East Java, as reported by Antara, Saturday, July 10.

Husnul explained, the addition of beds for handling positive COVID-19 confirmed patients was carried out in an effort to reduce the occupancy rate, or bed occupancy ratio (BOR) at the referral hospital.

In detail, he continued, at the referral hospital, including the COVID-19 handling facility in Malang City, there are currently 925 beds used for the isolation of COVID-19 patients.

Meanwhile, for beds in the intensive care unit (ICU), there are currently 41 units spread across various referral hospitals for handling COVID-19. Adding ICU capacity, he admitted, was not easy, because it also required additional medical equipment, such as ventilators.

"For the ICU, if you add more beds, you have to add equipment, such as a ventilator. For now, 41 beds are available, and they are filled 100 percent," he said.

In the Malang City area, there are 11 referral hospitals for handling COVID-19. In addition to the referral hospital, the Idjen Boulevard Field Hospital has also been opened, and an isolation house is located on Jalan Kawi, Malang City.

In the near future, the plan is to open an emergency hospital for handling COVID-19 at the Army Hospital (RST) Dr Soepraoen. In addition, another isolation house has also been prepared in the Rusunawa owned by Universitas Brawijaya Malang to increase the bed capacity for handling COVID-19.

The Malang City area is included in the red zone or an area with a high risk of spreading COVID-19. The Malang City Government has made efforts to tighten the implementation of Emergency PPKM to suppress citizen mobility to reduce the risk of spreading the corona virus.

So far, Malang City has recorded 7,397 positive confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of the total, 6,322 people were reported to have recovered, 683 were declared dead and the rest were under treatment.