Bantul Regent Guarantees Free Oxygen For COVID-19 Patients During The Pandemic

Bantul Regent Abdul Halim Muslih/ANTARA

BANTUL - Regent of Bantul, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Abdul Halim Muslih said free oxygen services for people with COVID-19 who are undergoing self-isolation will remain open during the pandemic.

"We provide this service as long as the government determines the COVID-19 pandemic, so as long as the government still stipulates that we are in the COVID-19 pandemic, that's how long we will serve this free oxygen," said the Bantul Regent on the sidelines of the launch of free oxygen. .

The free oxygen for people with COVID-19 was realized after the Bantul Regency Government finished building an oxygen generator at the Panembahan Senopati Regional General Hospital, Bantul, as an effort to improve health services in meeting oxygen needs.

The Regent said, for the time being, considering that various things, especially oxygen production at the Bantul Hospital, were prioritized for hospital needs and the rest was assigned to the community, the free oxygen centered at the Bantul Regent's Office House could only serve 15 cubic meters or 15 small tubes per day.

"And we are open for this service 24 hours, because we want to help our community, because of the lack of oxygen or oxygen saturation in the bodies of COVID-19 sufferers, we cannot predict when it will happen, so we are open 24 hours," he said.

According to the Regent, this optimal service is expected to reduce exposure to COVID-19 in Bantul, reduce the death rate and will increase the recovery rate from corona virus infection.

"Because today we cannot 100 percent rely on hospitals as places of isolation as well as shelters, because around 10 thousand people are self-isolating at home which also needs our attention," he said.

The Bantul Regent hopes that this free oxygen service, the kelurahan or village heads will cooperate by procuring oxygen cylinders to be loaned to the community, and also the village COVID-19 Task Force to be equipped with equipment including an oximeter.

"So that the COVID-19 Task Force can detect patients who are in isolation, if their oxygen saturation continues to decrease and they need oxygen, they can quickly come here to get free oxygen and be seconded to COVID-19 patients so that saturation can rise again," he said.