In a state of COVID-19 emergency, Bogor City is lacking healthcare workers. Hence, it needs more.
Bogor, W Java (ANTARA) - The Bogor city government in West Java is running short of healthcare workers to handle the rising number of COVID-19 patients being treated at hospitals and isolation centers.

"In a state of COVID-19 emergency, Bogor City is lacking healthcare workers. Hence, it needs more," Bogor Vice Mayor Dede A. Rachim stated on Monday.

Rachim made the statement after observing the expansion unit of the Bogor City General Hospital, earlier known as the field hospital, with a capacity of 64 beds, and COVID-19 isolation center at the student dormitory of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), with a capacity of 184 beds.

The lack of medical workers posed a problem to handle the city's COVID-19 caseload that had increased drastically. Moreover, several medical workers were exposed to the infection, Rachim noted.

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"This poses a challenge to the Bogor city government," he pointed out.

The Bogor vice mayor highlighted that the city government had increased the number of beds for COVID-19 patients by converting the IPB student dormitory into an isolation center and operating a field hospital. In total, the two health facilities have 243 beds.

"After the number of beds had been increased, (the city) is running short of medical workers," he stated.

For its part, the city government is in the process of recruiting new medical workers, Rachim noted.

Bogor Mayor Bima Arya remarked on Sunday that 336 of the 11,214 medical workers in the city were exposed to COVID-19.

"At this moment, 336 medical workers in Bogor City are suffering from COVID-19, while the number of COVID-19 cases in Bogor City had increased 78 percent this week," he stated.

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Translator: Riza Harahap/Suharto
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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