The country’s healthcare facilities are expected to implement the COVID-19 vaccination program, but they are overwhelmed with an increasing number of patients seeking treatment for the disease.
By
Kompas Team
·4 minutes read
The country’s healthcare facilities are expected to implement the COVID-19 vaccination program, but they are overwhelmed with an increasing number of patients seeking treatment for the disease. This problem must be resolved as soon as possible.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — As a nationwide vaccination drive gets underway, the COVID-19 transmission rate in Indonesia has reached record highs for three consecutive days. The mortality rate has also increased as health services are increasingly stretched, especially in Java.
On Friday (15/1/2021), Indonesia logged a daily increase of 12,818 COVID-19 cases and 238 deaths. The new cases were discovered among 49,466 people tested for the virus, which means that 25.9 percent of those examined, or one of 4 people, tested positive.
There are now 138,238 active and 66,573 suspected cases in the country. West Java reported the highest daily increase with 3,095 cases, followed by Jakarta with 2,541 cases, Central Java with 1,993 cases and East Java with 1,193 cases.
This situation has put health facilities under immense pressure, prompting LaporCOVID-19 and the Center for Indonesia’s Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI) to remind the government that emergency measures must be taken.
In December 2020 and January 2021, LaporCOVID-19 has so far received 23 reports of patients being rejected by hospitals because they were full, patients dying on the way as well as patients dying at home because they were rejected by hospitals. For example, on Jan. 3, a patient died in a ride-hailing car after being rejected by 10 COVID-19 referral hospitals.
A volunteer doctor from LaporCOVID-19, Tri Maharani, said the system of referrals between health facilities was not working well, because hospital capacity information systems were not functioning. As a result, many COVID-19 patients needing emergency treatment did not know where to do. “We shouldn’t just be talking about vaccines and forgetting the emergency situation hospitals are seeing,” she said.
This has been exacerbated by other healthcare problems, including limited bed capacity, inadequate protection of health workers and the unavailability of real-time health information. “If this is not resolved, the death rate will only increase,” she said.
Government efforts to increase bed capacity and the number of health workers would not be sufficient as cases continued to increase, Olivia said in Jakarta.
According to CISDI policy director Olivia Herlinda, the government needs to declare a state of emergency in healthcare services, so that the public understands the high risk of transmission and becomes more compliant with health protocol. Government efforts to increase bed capacity and the number of health workers would not be sufficient as cases continued to increase, Olivia said in Jakarta.
Health protocols
Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) head Penny Lukito noted that receiving a vaccine did not guarantee complete safety from the virus. Thus, personal protection through masks and through following health rules remained the most important line of defense. “The Sinovac vaccine has an efficacy rate of 65.3 percent. So, this vaccine can reduce by 65 percent the risk of severe events in those vaccinated,” she said.
An Indonesian epidemiologist at Griffith University, Dicky Budiman, said no COVID-19 vaccine had been proven to prevent infection and transmission and it was hard to rely only on a vaccine to overcome a pandemic.
Yesterday, COVID-19 vaccinations were held in a number of regions, including Jayapura, Ambon, Manado, Banda Aceh, Medan and Denpasar. In Papua, 20 people received their shots at the Jayapura Dok II hospital, including provincial administration officials, Indonesian Military (TNI) and police personnel as well as religious leaders, youth leaders and journalists.
In Ambon, 40 people became the first recipients, including regional officials, community leaders, religious leaders and medical personnel. Maluku Governor Murad Ismail was the first person to be vaccinated. In Manado, 8 of 13 members of the North Sulawesi leadership forum, including Governor Olly Dondokambey, were not able to receive the COVID-19 vaccine due to medical conditions and are scheduled to receive the vaccine next week.
The Aceh provincial administration has also begun with the COVID-19 vaccination drive, with Governor Nova Iriansyah being the first person in that region.
On Friday, the first day of vaccinations in Lampung, 21 regional officials and representatives of Bandar Lampung city received the COVID-19 vaccine. The Aceh provincial administration has also begun with the COVID-19 vaccination drive, with Governor Nova Iriansyah being the first person in that region.
Vaccination efforts were also launched in Medan city, where positive cases have been increasing at a rapid rate recently. “We ask the public to remain disciplined in following health protocols,” said acting Medan mayor Akhyar Nasution.