The House Of Representatives Building Is Proposed To Become A COVID-19 Emergency Hospital, Chair Of Regional Representative Council: We Must Measure Its Effectiveness And Efficiency First

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JAKARTA - Chairman of the Regional Representative Council (DPD) La Nyalla Mattalitti, assessed that the proposal for the House of Representatives building to be used as an emergency hospital for COVID-19 patients must be considered and studied.

The reason is, when reviewed by the leadership of the House of Representatives, many obstacles were found, ranging from elevators that cannot be entered by beds, inadequate rooms to bathrooms.

"We have to measure the elements of effectiveness and efficiency first", said La Nyalla to reporters, Tuesday, July 13.

Previously, the proposal for the parliamentary complex to be transformed into an emergency hospital for COVID-19 patients was conveyed by the House of Representatives (DPR) Demokrat Party Faction following the number of hospitals being full due to the surge in coronavirus cases.

La Nyalla, a senator from East Java, reminded that we must also think about the location that we want to serve as an emergency hospital. The accessibility must be considered, the existing facilities/infrastructure and facilities can support it.

"How about in terms of treatment and sanitation, as well as many other things. We must also take into account the management of medical waste so as not to cause new problems", he explained.

According to La Nyalla, if the infrastructure in the parliament complex is not adequate to serve as an emergency hospital, the government will in fact spend a large amount of money if it has to prepare for all the existing needs. From a budget perspective, he said, this would not work efficiently.

"Moreover, the parliament complex is a vital object of the state whose security is also carried out specifically. It will require extra preparation, both in terms of security and comfort, if it is later transformed into an emergency hospital", said La Nyalla.

Even so, La Nyalla believes that the proposal from the Demokrat Party Faction is not impossible. However, consideration and preparation must really be done carefully.

"Every aspiration for public safety is certainly very good. I also understand that this proposal is a form of concern for friends in the Democrats who want to show the people's representatives care in this condition. But let's leave it to the government, in this case, the Ministry of Health, to calculate whether it is efficient and effective if the parliament complex becomes one of the locations for emergency hospitals for COVID-19 patients", he said.

Responding to the proposal, the Secretariat General of the DPR has conducted a simulation. As a result, a number of obstacles were found that would make it difficult for the DPR complex to be used as the location of the Corona patient Emergency Hospital.

Some obstacles such as patient beds that cannot be put into the elevator. Then the proposed plenary room becomes a ward, the floor structure decreases or is uneven so that it is not possible to place a patient bed.

The buildings in the parliament complex that are old are also considered not ideal to be maintenance locations. If you dismantle the room for the representatives of the people so that it can be used as a patient room, it will certainly take a long time.

From the simulation, the most likely place to be used as an emergency hospital location is an 80x90 meter field in front of the Nusantara I building. In that location, emergency tents can be built for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

"But again we have to think about facilities and other supporting facilities/infrastructure such as bathrooms and rooms that are more appropriate if there are difficult cases", said LaNyalla.

Currently, the government is preparing various places that allow it to be used as an Emergency Hospital. LaNyalla suggested that government-owned training places be converted into places to treat coronavirus patients.

"The government, both central and regional, has many places for education and training which I believe in this pandemic condition, their functions have not been widely used. We can take advantage of this location because the training centers have many halls and rooms for training participants", said the former Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) general chairman.

La Nyalla also considered that the government could use hotels and inns to be used as places to treat Covid patients. In addition to being able to accommodate patients, the government can help with the income of hotels and inns which are currently empty of visitors.

“Instead of having to build new facilities/infrastructure, just take advantage of the existing ones. It's just a matter of adjusting the designation. So I think that choosing the location of the Emergency Hospital must be rational, effective, and efficient”, said La Nyalla.

Previously, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, directly inspected several locations or rooms that could be used as treatment rooms for COVID-19 patients and found a number of obstacles.

For example, patient beds cannot be put into the elevator, many rooms are soundproof, the air circulation does not meet the standards and there are several rooms that must be dismantled if they are to be used.

Dasco said that one of the proposed rooms for the treatment room is the plenary meeting room on the third floor, Nusantara II Building. However, the plenary room only has 1 lift to enter the bed.

"There's only one elevator, it's not enough to put a bed in. Then the plenary room is not flat. The construction is declining, so it's a bit difficult to fall down on the bed", said the head of the DPR for the Coordination of Finance, Monday, July 12.

According to Dasco, what could be used as a treatment room is the football field in the DPR with a size of 80×90 meters. However, the field can only be built for emergency tents.

In addition to the treatment room, continued Dasco, bathroom facilities and other infrastructure must also be considered if you want to use the field.

"Here, we also think about how the bathroom is, how it's not just treatment, where the doctor is, water electricity and others. So, is this also technically efficient or not using the 80x90 one", said the Gerindra Party politician.