TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta provincial government has decided to convert two regional public hospitals, RSUD Cengkareng and RSUD Pasar Minggu, into special Covid-19 referral hospitals. The two regional health facilities will only treat patients presenting severe symptoms.

“The two hospitals have been set to increase the capacity [of hospital beds] and designated as Covid-19 hospitals,” said Jakarta Head of Health Agency Widyastuti at the City Hall, Thursday, September 3.

According to Widyastuti, the government is still preparing several technical issues to switch the two hospitals into Covid-19 referrals hospitals.

For example, at Cengkareng Hospital, the government needed time to transfer non-Covid-19 patients to another hospital, she added. The transfer required an assessment, including mapping regional and private hospitals in each city to strengthen the hospital network around the two hospitals.

The Health Agency’s Head of Disease Prevention and Control Unit, Dwi Oktavia, said the city’s decision was an effort to increase the capacity of hospital wards as the government is striving to drop the occupancy rate of hospital beds at Covid-19 referral hospitals to below 60 percent.

At present, the occupancy rate hit 81 percent for isolation beds and 74 percent for ICU beds. In total, Jakarta has 4,045 beds in isolation rooms and 513 ICU beds.

Read: Jakarta Preps Two More Covid-19 Referral Hospitals

IMAM HAMDI