High Need For COVID Patients, Oxygen Stock In Central Kalimantan Only Left For 7 Days 6 Hours

KALTENG - Head of the Central Kalimantan Provincial Health Office, Suyuti Syamsul, said the current oxygen stock is only sufficient to meet the needs of about seven days.

"Indeed, the endurance is only seven days, to be exact seven days and six hours for the whole of Central Kalimantan", he said in Palangka Raya, quoted from Antara, Monday, July 26.

However, this Monday, it is estimated that there will be additional entry from the dealer or distributor. He has also reported to the leadership so that companies such as mining, gold smelting, and iron that have oxygen supplies can be borrowed first.

"It's very risky if you run out of oxygen because the need for oxygen related to handling COVID-19 is so extraordinary", he said.

Suyuti explained, if the average disease only consumes 4-5 liters per minute, then if there are COVID-19 patients it even reaches 48 liters per minute so that it will run out quickly.

He admitted that there are already health facilities in Central Kalimantan that have experienced difficulties regarding meeting this oxygen demand, but they can be overcome by borrowing from each other.

For example, if there is a hospital or health facility that is still in large supply, then you can first lend it to other health facilities that are in short supply.

"But the problem is that the hospital is alone in a district", said Suyuti.

For this reason, his party continues to try to deal with this problem in various ways, including by urging the oxygen distributor to be able to increase the quota.

The Central Kalimantan Provincial Government has also written to various ministries regarding this condition, so it is hoped that they can get support to overcome it.

"I myself have submitted a copy of the letter to the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Health and the information was responded to immediately for coordination", he explained after attending a coordination meeting on handling COVID-19 led by Central Kalimantan Governor, Sugianto Sabran.

Suyuti hopes that soon we will receive additional supplies to meet oxygen needs, especially in handling COVID-19 cases.