"Currently, out of 267 district and city hospitals, there are still only a few that have cath labs: as many as 41 hospitals," head of the Supporting Program for National Cardiovascular Referral Hospital, Hananto Andriantoro said at a press conference held at Dr. Johanes Leimena Ambon Hospital, which was followed online on Friday.
According to him, the government has prepared a Special Allocation Fund (DAK) for 2023 for the cath labs. Therefore, in 2024, the number of cath labs will rise from 41 to 55 units.
Andriantoro, who is also a cardiologist at Harapan Kita Heart Hospital, said that the price of one cath lab unit is around Rp18 billion.
He noted that there are several obstacles to efforts to meet the need for cath labs in all regions, which range from building requirements to human resources.
He pointed out that the majority of hospitals have not met the building requirements for setting up cath labs, such as those related to building dimensions, the distance between the cath lab and the emergency room, and the distance between the emergency room and the cardiovascular intensive care room.
"Many hospitals in Indonesia that we visited and observed, we also got information via Zoom, have not met the criteria for buildings," he said.
He affirmed that his party will support the hospital facility management system to ensure the maintenance of the cath labs.
The cardiologist said that one other problem that hospitals are facing is unstable electricity supply. "We are working with regional governments so that hospitals that receive cath labs can have their own electricity substations," he informed.
In addition, the availability of human resources who have attended training, namely six months for nurses and one year for cardiologists, needs to be ensured.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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