DPRD Says COVID-19 Beds Are Full Because They Are Filled With Rich Patients In Private Hospitals

Illustration/Photo: PIXABAY

JAKARTA - Deputy Chair of the DKI DPRD from the Gerindra faction, Mohamad Taufik, asked the public not to panic when COVID-19 cases began to increase.

Because, according to Taufik, from the impression that the COVID-19 treatment beds at the hospital seemed full because there were many able-bodied people who wanted to be treated in private hospitals when exposed to COVID-19. Meanwhile, the capacity of hospitals is still quite a lot.

"Hospitals that are filled with a lot are private hospitals. Check it out at the hospital, it's a bit quiet. Why is it a private hospital? This means that people who can afford it, don't want to self-isolate at home, they want to be in the hospital. So we shouldn't panic," said Taufik when met at the DKI DPRD Building, Wednesday, January 2.

On that occasion, Taufik also assessed that 100 percent face-to-face learning (PTM) does not need to be stopped even though COVID-19 cases in the capital city continue to rise. The DKI Provincial Government, he said, simply evaluates schools that have been exposed to cases by temporarily closing them.

"I think if a school is exposed to its students, teachers, the school should evaluate it, not the whole school's policy. I think it's only local," he said.

Separately, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin also admitted that some people are still worried if they are not treated in a hospital when exposed to the corona virus. This is based on the experience of the surge in the Delta variant which resulted in a lot of worsening of symptoms and had to be hospitalized.

In fact, he said, most of the COVID-19 cases, especially the Omicron variant, only needed to self-isolate.

"Most of them actually don't need to be hospitalized. We understand that people were still traumatized last July that if we got hit, we had to go to the hospital. Actually if her oxygen saturation is still above 94-95, she can be treated at home, " said Budi.

It is known, currently the BOR in 140 COVID-19 referral hospitals in Jakarta has reached 60 percent. There are 3,072 used beds from 5,111 beds prepared.