Medical volunteers at hospitals and community health centers were also bogged down by fatigue, while the medical personnel’s resources were running out, Jossep F. William, chief coordinator of the Task Force's medical volunteers, stated during a teleconference here on Monday.
"Indeed, medical personnel are currently quite tired, but we are striving to keep up the spirits since it seems that it is still a long way for the pandemic to be brought under control, and in fact, it is increasing, and there are no signs of a decline. We are working with professional organizations, such as the IDI (Indonesian Doctors' Association), PPNI (Indonesian Nurses' Association), and others, to ready the personnel needed at emergency hospitals," he revealed.
Currently, the number of nurses and midwives, reaching some two thousand, is adequate. However, there is a shortage of doctors, according to William.
To handle the shortage of medical personnel, the COVID-19 Handling Task Force is considering recruiting internship doctors while still being accompanied by experienced doctors.
"The volunteer medics have been extremely busy, while ambulances are also busy and full almost every day over the past one week. The ambulances that transfer those testing positive (for COVID-19) at the Wisma Atet Emergency House have to be in queue, so they cannot pick patients up immediately," he stated.
A spike in the number of confirmed cases had affected healthcare workers. Hence, he urged the public to follow strict health protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
"We really need the people's help to implement health protocols. If we continue like this, we will collapse because we are so overwhelmed. Now, we are still holding on, but we do not know how long it will last," he added. Related news: 115 Indonesian doctors die of COVID-19
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Translator: Aditya R, Fardah
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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