Indonesia's public hospitals are running out of liquid oxygen amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. According to an official from one of Java's public hospitals, dozens of COVID-19 patients had died.
Indonesia's Increasing COVID-19 cases
Banu Hermawan, the spokesman of Dr. Sardjito General Hospital in Yogyakarta, said that as of July 3, at least 33 patients with severe coronavirus infections died after the central supply of liquid medical oxygen ran out.
The oxygen shortage in the city's largest hospital was due to the sudden increase in COVID-19 patients arriving in deteriorating condition, according to Hermawan.
At least 63 COVID-19 patients died while being treated for COVID-19 in the hospital, and 33 of them died during the period when the central liquid oxygen supply ran out even though the hospital switch to using oxygen cylinders.
According to ABC News, medical oxygen used for COVID-19 patients comes in liquid and compressed forms.
Hermawan added that the deteriorating condition of the patients contributed the most to their death.
As of July 4, the central oxygen supply of the hospital was refilled. Around 15 tons of liquid oxygen arrived.
The hospital had asked the health authorities for assistance regarding the oxygen shortage, including asking for extra oxygen supplies from other hospitals in the country as the supply of liquid oxygen decreased to critical levels.
Hermawan stated that the hospital switched to oxygen cylinders, and they used around 100 cylinders that were donated by the Yogyakarta regional police.
Indonesia's COVID-19 cases have affected its already weak health care system. At the start of the pandemic, the government had imposed unusual measures to make the locals obey the rules, including making violators isolate in hunted houses.
Across Java, the hospitals started to set up plastic tents to serve as makeshift intensive care units. The COVID-19 patients had to wait for days to be admitted.
Oxygen tanks were also rolled out on the sidewalk to help some of the patients, but the others who did not get the oxygen tanks were told that they would need to look for their own supply.
Imposing of Emergency Measures
As the COVID-19 cases continue to increase in the country, President Joko Widodo said that Indonesia would impose stricter emergency measures until July 20. The new COVID-19 strict measures are expected to help contain the spike in coronavirus cases, according to Reuters.
In recent weeks, the number of cases recorded has been alarming, prompting warnings from health experts that the outbreak could spiral out of control if tighter measures are not taken. Some health experts compared the situation to India's oxygen outage.
President Widodo added that as long as the citizens cooperate with the stricter measures, the country will be able to suppress COVID-19 transmission and restore the people's lives faster.
The measures aim to halve the number of daily COVID-19 cases to fewer than 10,000, and it will include tighter restrictions on air travel and land travel. Dining indoors at restaurants and the operation of non-essential offices are temporarily prohibited.
The new measures will be applied on the island of Bali and the most populous areas of Java.
Indonesia has one of the worst outbreaks in Southeast Asia and has recorded 24,836 new cases and 504 deaths as of July 1. Since the pandemic began, Indonesia has recorded more than 2.2 million cases and 58,995 deaths, according to John Hopkins Research Institute.
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Written by Sophie Webster
