"What is required now is an emergency or field hospital. Patients with moderate or severe symptoms do not know where else to go because the hospitals are full," Maharani noted in a written statement in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The speaker gauged that in the current emergency scenario, increasing the hospital capacity can be considered.
Maharani cited the example of the Navy Hospital Ship or KRI DR Suharso and Pelni ships that can be modified to serve as hospital ships.
"Build field hospitals, and buildings that can be converted. However, do not go the 'business as usual' route. We have to act in an emergency work rhythm," she stressed.
The former coordinating minister for human development and culture opined that other ameliorative steps entailed the mobilization of oxygen cylinders from all over Indonesia outside Java and Bali.
The DPR speaker noted that based on monitoring and supervision, upstream handling of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates correction of several records and adoption of precautionary measures.
Maharani cited examples of the availability of patient care rooms, oxygen and medicines, personnel, and medical equipment, as well as the implementation of emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM).
In addition, the government should enforce rules in a strict, measurable, and indiscriminate manner.
The government should also strengthen public communication, so that people are well aware of the dangers of COVID-19 and its handling.
Furthermore, the PDI-P politician lauded all parties that had worked together for the success of the Emergency PPKM policy in order to stem the spread of COVID-19.
As many as 232,046 Indonesians received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, taking the number of fully vaccinated people to 14,267,980, the COVID-19 Response Task Force reported.
The number of people receiving their first COVID-19 dose rose by 873,761 to reach 33,176,029, it revealed.
According to the task force, recipients of the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine constitute 82.82 percent of the 40,349,049 people targeted under the first and second phases of the vaccination program.
The targeted vaccine recipients comprise healthcare workers, public service officers, and senior citizens.
Meanwhile, fully vaccinated residents account for 35.36 percent of the recipients targeted by the first and second phase of the vaccination program.
Overall, the government is seeking to vaccinate 181.5 million citizens, or 70 percent of the country's population, to create herd immunity against the virus. Related news: Jakarta readies 2,500 beds at Nagrak apartments for COVID patients
Related news: Govt to raise hospital bed capacity by 30% amid COVID surge
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Translator: Imam B, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
