Anies: Stop Slander Hospitals Seek Personal Benefit From COVID-19

DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan (Photo: Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

JAKARTA - DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan asked the public not to make noise during the pandemic by spreading rumors to slander that there are hospitals that have made personal benefits in dealing with COVID-19 patients.

Hospitals can indeed claim replacement money when treating COVID-19 patients. This is because all medical expenses for patients confirmed positive for the corona virus are borne by the government.

"Stop all kinds of slander against them. Stop slander with malicious issues as if they were looking for personal gain," said Anies in a video broadcast on the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government's Youtube account which was seen on Saturday, July 25.

Anies said that currently medical personnel are struggling to deal with COVID-19 patients, which are increasing every day. In addition, they are also very at risk of contracting the corona virus. It should not be overwritten with issues that are not necessarily true.

If there are indeed complaints about poor health services from hospitals and health centers that handle COVID-19, Anies asks the public to report directly to the Health Office or the Ministry of Health.

"If necessary, report it to the Ombudsman, but not by spreading issues and slander to the wider public," said Anies.

"We all owe a debt of gratitude to the health workers at this time. Let us support them so that they can truly become the last bastion of defense to save anyone who is exposed," he added.

To date, Anies said that Jakarta has 67 COVID-19 referral hospitals. In details, there are 4,556 isolation beds and 659 intensive care units (ICU) specifically for COVID-19.

"The number of beds capacity is far more than the early days of the pandemic," said Anies.

Furthermore, about the ability to check (testing), every week, the polymerase chainreaction (PCR) swab test also increases every week. To date, the total number of tests carried out has reached 499,410 specimens.

The World Health Organization (WHO) requires the number of people examined. WHO sets the standard, 1,000 new people out of 1 million population are tested each week.

Anies said DKI had exceeded the number of test standards by WHO. In the past week, Jakarta has tested 39,268 new people. If calculated, the equivalent is 3 688 people per 1 million population in a week.

"If WHO standardizes 1000 per 1,000,000 population in a week, Jakarta has also successfully passed this standard number of tests," said Anies.