The initiative to improve healthcare infrastructure is an important aspect to ensure public health
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Executive Office of the President's (KSP's) Monitoring and Evaluation Team commended the construction of the Jayapura Regional Hospital named as the national referral hospital for the eastern Indonesian region to treat COVID-19 patients.

"The initiative to improve healthcare infrastructure is an important aspect to ensure public health, for which the hospital's construction should be accelerated to prevent any hindrance to healthcare services," an expert staff of KSP Rini S. Modouw, noted in her press statement here on Saturday while reporting on the team's recent visit to the hospital site on Friday (Aug 13).

Modouw remarked that apart from constructing the hospital building, health workers, including medical specialists, nurses, and other assistants, should also be readied while highlighting the office's assistance to push the relevant authority fulfilling the health workers' vacancy in the region.

The President's staff office will put forward the Papuan authority's request for healthcare workers to the Home Affairs Ministry and Health Ministry, she stated.

Earlier, Director of the Jayapura Regional Hospital Aloysius Giay had admitted to his hospital being overwhelmed to treat COVID-19 patients, especially during a surge in the number of COVID-19 positive cases three weeks ago.

He cited the disproportionate health worker-to-patient ratio at the hospital as the chief factor behind its inability to handle the influx in cases despite the situation having improved in weeks and the health workers currently no longer being overloaded.

The Jayapura Regional Hospital is the main referral hospital to treat COVID-19 patients in Papua Province. Health Minister's Decision No. 390 of 2014 stipulates that the hospital was named one of the 14 national referral hospitals.

Hospital administrators are expediting the construction of VIP inpatient rooms and a cardiology building this year, with the plan for a mother and childcare building and a trauma centre to commence next year. The hospital construction project is expected to be completed in 2024, Giay noted.

After the new regional leadership emerged, construction of the Jayapura Regional Hospital continued after an eight-year delay. The COVID-19 pandemic further stressed the urgency to complete the construction soon, Giay remarked.

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Translator: Rangga Pandu, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Sri Haryati
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