Committed to Sacred Mission Despite Rejection

AWALUDIN UNTUK KOMPAS

Health workers examine a patient at a puskesmas (community health center) in Sotek village of Penajam district, Penajam Paser Utara regency, East Kalimantan.

The dead bodies of Covid-19 patients have been forcibly taken home, people refuse to get medical tests and people accuse medical workers of benefitting from the epidemic. Such a situation has hurt the feelings of medical workers, yet the medical workers are determine to move forward with their humanitarian mission.

Doctor Ahmad Asy Arie was in the fifth day of isolation on Friday (12/06/2020). Last Monday, he tested positive for Covid-19. The head of the Makkasau Community Health Center (Puskesmas) in Makassar, South Sulawesi, got infected from a fellow doctor, his subordinate.

"Alhamdulillah [Praise be to Allah]. Perhaps, I am told to take a rest first. According to my friends, now it\'s my turn to take 14 days off," Arie said when contacted by phone.

The 14-days off" is a satire-pitched joke popular among the health workers at Makassau community health workers (Puskesmas) to amuse themselves

"The 14-days off" is a satire-pitched joke popular among the health workers at Makassau community health workers (Puskesmas) to amuse themselves. Previously, some of them had also tested positive for Covid-19.

Read also: Medical Workers’ Incentives Delayed

Arie was shocked when he found out that he had contracted Covid-19. Thinking about his wife and two children, whom he rarely meets during the pandemic, made him even more sad. The support from his family, work colleagues and relatives strengthened him. However, he is trying to be tough in facing another reality, accusations by the people who accused the health workers of dancing on the pandemic.

"This accusation makes me and my friends very shocked and sad. There is no slightest thought in our minds to make profit from this pandemic. We are only doing our job, which from the beginning is full of risks. If we could choose, we wouldn’t want to be in a situation like this,"Arie said.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Medical workers at the Duren Sawit Community Health Center (Puskesmas) in East Jakarta, take photos together after administering rapid and swab tests on sellers at Perumnas Klender Market on Friday (29/5/2020). More than 50 sellers underwent testing. Similar tests conducted last week found 50 sellers had COVID-19. The Indonesian Market Sellers Association recorded that 233 sellers had tested positive for COVID-19 nationally, of which 19 died.

What is even more painful is the fact that people\'s opinions are transformed into defiance. In addition to disobeying health protocols, the defiance also manifested itself in protests by putting up banners and locked the access, expelling health

workers who were about to carry out rapid tests and forcibly taking the bodies of Covid-19 patients from hospitals.

Arie remembered very well, at the beginning of the pandemic, in the midst of the limited personal protection equipment (PPE), several health workers wearing raincoats went down to the ground tracking people that had contracted the coronavirus. Early in the morning, at noon or even at night, they walked down the aisles and visited crowded settlements and crossed to Leu-lae Island using a canoe, still wrapped in APD clothes. Although their visits have often been denied, Arie and his colleagues did not despair.

"I only hope that what we have done is not in vain," said Arie.

We introspect ourselves, perhaps familiarization to the community is lacking.

Supporting each other among health workers is the key to maintaining vigorous service to citizens. "Some are sad, some are angry, but we support one another and amuse ourselves. We introspect ourselves, perhaps familiarization to the community is lacking. This is what we are trying to fix. We continue to provide services and nothing has changed," said Mukhlisina, a doctor at Puskesmas Antang, Manggala district, Makassar.

Guts

Meanwhile, at the Surabaya Youth Center, East Java, thousands of people had lined up since early morning to participate in the Covid-19 mass testing held by the Surabaya city administration together with the State Intelligence Agency (BIN). With PPE, the health workers served citizens tirelessly.

Puskesmas Rangkah doctor Dwi Astuti Setyorini also took part in serving the people for the mass test. Since 7 a.m., she has been ready at the Surabaya Youth Center.

The doctor, who is familiarly called Ririn, was not afraid of the risk of being exposed to Covid-19, although she met thousands of people who underwent the mass tests every day. "As long as I continue to wear PPE, I believe the risk of transmission can be reduced," she said.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Medical workers check the data of people who underwent polymerase chain reaction testing at a Puskesmas in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, on Friday (29/5/2020). Ahead of the new normal, the Jakarta Health Agency is committed to providing proper health facilities, including by increasing the number of health laboratories to support the effort to provide the public with polymerase chain reaction testing facilities in the capital.

For her, it does not matter if she has to be at the forefront to find residents exposed to Covid-19. The importance of breaking the spread of transmission is far more significant than the risks that she must face. The more she is able to find people confirmed for Covid-19, the more people can be prevented from transmission.

Surabaya-based RSUD Dr. Soewandhie Hospital doctor, Yuni Setyowatiningsih, said that in one day she could take a swab test sample of up to 30 people. During her work, she always wore PPE to protect herself. "Wearing and removing PPE can take up to an hour," she said.

Read also: Watch out for Second Wave of Pandemic

At the hospital, which is a referral hospital, doctors in charge of taking swab samples work on a schedule. Within a week, a doctor took a swab test sample up to three times. This schedule is made so as not to always contact with patients, reducing risks of transmission.

Surabaya-based Premier Hospital doctor in charge of taking a throat swab sample, Vincentius Agung Setiawan, said that the longer he interacted with Covid-19 patients, the more he was able to recognize patients who were likely to be tested positive.

"In the beginning we were guessing. But now, as we increasingly often meet the patients, we could see the differences [between confirmed cases and unconfirmed cases] only by seeing the clinical symptoms and early checks," he said.

As long as he is disciplined in wearing PPE while on duty, he believes he can protect his health.

As part of the frontline team to find Covid-19 patients, he feels responsible for helping the community. As long as he is disciplined in wearing PPE while on duty, he believes he can protect his health. "Since March, I have been taking throat swab seven times," he said.

While people in other regions showed rejections, Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini appreciated the enthusiastic citizens who took part in the mass test for the Covid-19 mission. "Surabaya residents care about their families and neighbors so they are willing to be tested. They don\'t want their loved ones to be infected so that the family approach we use can be effective," said Risma. (REN/SYA/ETA)