Thousands of Medical Workers Positive of Covid-19, and Hundreds of them Died during the Pandemic

Editor: Lia Sisvita Dinatri

TRIBUNBATAM.id - Nearly seven months the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the country. During that period, thousands of medical personnel were reported to have been exposed to the coronavirus.

If this condition continues, medical personnel are potentially exhausted in facing thousands of new cases that keep appearing every day.

Chair of the Advance Pharmacist Division and Specialist of the Indonesian Pharmacists Association (IAI), Kerry Lestari Dandan revealed that no less than 800 pharmacists throughout Indonesia were reported to have been exposed to the coronavirus. 

In detail, there were 803 pharmacists who were confirmed positive for Covid-19. Of these, 640 people have been declared cured and six people died.

Meanwhile, quoted from Tribunnews.com, the Secretary General of the PP Indonesian Midwives Association, Ade Jubaedah revealed that there were 2,291 midwives who tested positive for Covid-19. 

Of these, 1,345 people have been declared cured and 22 people died.

Meanwhile, 924 people are currently still tested positive for Covid-19, of which 746 people are undergoing independent isolation and 178 others are being treated in hospital.

In order to reduce the number of Covid-19 transmission, Ade said, her party asked all patients who want to seek treatment to make an appointment first. So, midwives can make preparations to prevent possible transmission of Covid-19. 

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the Indonesian National Nurses Association DPP, Harif Fadhillah, revealed that if the positive cases of Covid-19 continue to increase, then this should be a warning to all parties.

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He reminded that if all parties agree that medical personnel are the last bastion in facing the Covid-19 pandemic, then there should be a program to improve the safety of health workers.

Especially for nurses, until now there have been 85 nurses who have died due to Covid-19. Several provinces have quite high cases of nurses exposed to Covid-19, including DKI Jakarta (1,629 cases), East Java (844 cases), South Sulawesi (350 cases), and Bali (156 cases). 

It should be noted, the Covid-19 Handling Task Force recorded an additional 4,071 positive cases on Tuesday (22/9/2020).

The addition of daily cases resulted in the accumulation of positive cases reaching 252,923 people.

Of these, 184,298 people have been declared recover and 9,837 people have died. 

Hundreds of doctors died

Meanwhile, based on data from the Executive Board of the Indonesian Doctors Association (PB IDI), no less than 117 doctors were reported to have died due to Covid-19.

This number does not include doctors who tested positive for Covid-19.

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Chairman of PB IDI, Daeng M Faqih, appreciated the Covid-19 Handling Task Force's desire to eliminate the cost of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for medical personnel. 

According to him, more routine PCR checks on health workers can reduce their risk of death from exposure to the corona virus.

He added, in the midst of the increasing massive number of Covid-19 cases, there are two important things that must be prepared in the near future.

First, the capacity of health services that needs to be added. The limited capacity of the treatment room, according to him, has the potential to cause treatment services to Covid-19 patients to be not optimal. 

In addition, the increasing number of patients being treated in the hospital can also adversely affect the condition of medical personnel. The reason is, they will be overwhelmed and easily contract the corona virus.

Second, IDI will communicate with all health workers to continue to encourage people to be more disciplined in implementing health protocols.

At a minimum, he said, in terms of using masks. (*) 

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