TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) latest data show that December 2020 recorded the highest number of healthcare service workers lost due to Covid-19. The staggering increase according to IDI mitigation team administrator Adib Khumaidi is nearly five times higher compared to the early months the virus started to spread in Indonesia.

Citing their data, 504 healthcare workers had died since Covid-19 spread from March to December with 252 of them being doctors, 171 nurses, 64 midwives, 7 pharmacists, and 10 medical lab workers. In December alone there were 52 doctors who died due to exposure to the virus.

Among the doctors mostly consists of 101 general practitioners - four of them were professors - and 131 medical specialists which include 7 professors, and 5 under residency programs.

“The deaths of medical and healthcare workers in Indonesia is the highest in Asia and the world’s top 5,” said Adib Khumaidi.

According to the IDI, the high number of deaths from healthcare workers is due to the accumulation of people’s increased activities and mobility during the past lengthy national holidays and regional elections.

He called for more protection to be given to healthcare workers as he acknowledges that there are still groups of people that ignore the health protocol the government had imposed to break the chain of Covid-19 infection.

Also Read: COVID-19: Indonesia Adds 7,203 Cases in Single Day

ANTARA