TEMPO.CO, Surabaya - The deputy head of the Surabaya’s Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) task force on Covid-19 handling, Arief Bakhtiar, said a number of hospitals in the city of East Java Province could not take the surge in Covid-19 patients.

“In several hospitals, patients are still placed in emergency rooms as they cannot be put in isolation rooms,” Arief told Tempo on Wednesday, May 27.

Arief recalled the hike in the number of patients contracting the novel coronavirus occurred before the 2020 Eid al-Fitr or Lebaran holiday. The condition also happened in the hospital he works at Dr. Soetomo Hospital and Royal Surabaya Hospital.

Arief admitted that healthcare workers started to feel overwhelmed by the high number of patients and increasing workloads. However, they were still treating patients. “Regardless of the condition, our task is to treat patients, we must work,” he added. “Hopefully, we continue to be given health.”

Additionally, several medics in the city reportedly contracted the virus, yet Arief expressed gratitude that his colleagues could still be able to conduct self-isolation. “Hopefully, [their conditions] will not decline,” Arief said.

As reported earlier, the Airlangga University or Unair Hospital said in a letter signed by its deputy director of Medical and Nursing Services, Hamzah, that it has temporarily stopped taking referrals of new Covid-19 patients for 14 days starting May 26, 2020. The health personnel will be focused on treating patients already being treated.

BUDIARTI UTAMI PUTRI