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Indonesia: More than 450 doctors succumb to battle with coronavirus

About 458 doctors have succumbed to it coronavirus from March 2020 to the first week of July, said Antib Humaidi, an executive of the Indonesian Medical Association, stressing that the number of deaths has accelerated dramatically in the last two months.

According to Mr. Humaydi, the deaths of medical staff due to COVID-19 increased sevenfold in June; in the first nine days of July, the losses in the medical ranks reached 35.

The doctor’s death record in Indonesia was recorded in January, when they had succumbed 65.

In all, if the rest of the medical staff are added, the death toll is close to a thousand, of whom more than 10 were fully vaccinated, according to the Indonesian Medical Association.

Authorities announced yesterday that members of the medical staff will take a third dose, with the vaccine of the American Moderna, to strengthen their protection. The country has so far relied on Sinovac Biotech’s immunization campaign, but the ongoing deaths of medical staff raise new doubts about its effectiveness, especially against the Delta variant.

Indonesia, where the epidemiological situation has rapidly deteriorated due to the wave of infections due to Delta, which was initially identified in India, received oxygen bottles and personal protective equipment from Singapore yesterday, which was desperately needed by its health system. wave.

Hospitals are struggling to make ends meet by setting up tents in parking lots, but many are now refusing to admit new patients, leaving many sick to die in their homes, while relatives are doing everything they can to find an oxygen cylinder.

In addition to the oxygen cylinders, Singapore sent in Jakarta respirators, masks, gloves and T-shirts with two military aircraft, the city-state foreign ministry said.

About a thousand other mechanical breathing support devices were also expected from Australia yesterday. Indonesian authorities assure that more oxygen and equipment will be procured immediately.

Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, with a population of almost 270 million, counts tens of thousands of SARS-CoV-2 cases daily and this week set a record death rate in 24 hours (1,040). The number of infections has quadrupled in less than a month.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, officially the cases have exceeded 2.4 million, but experts stress that in reality, it must be much more, given the small number of tests. The death toll is close to 64,000, according to official figures.

At a hospital in Surabaya, on the island of Java, where half the Indonesian population lives, patients with COVID-19 line up, but “many of our employees have become infected themselves,” said a spokesman. “As soon as one patient leaves, another enters immediately. “We feel we have overflowed,” the spokeswoman added.

Restrictive measures, in particular the closure of offices, shops and, in the worst-hit areas, mosques and churches, were extended across the country on Wednesday. Draconian restrictions were already in place on the islands of Java and Bali. The new measures, which vary depending on the impact rate, are being implemented in dozens of cities from Sumatra (west) to West Papua (east).

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