TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) said the number of doctors who died while treating Covid-19 patients increased significantly from May to June 2021. Based on IDI data, seven doctors died in May and rose to 26 the following month.

IDI said the highest death toll among doctors was recorded in January 2021 at 65. However, the increase from December 2020 to the next month was not high. In December 2020, 57 doctors died.

After the high death toll in January, the rate began to decline. In February, 31 doctors died, 16 doctors in March, and eight doctors in April. In May, the number fell back to seven people.

“Then, as of June 25, there has been a sharp increase again, 26 doctors have died,” said the IDI Mitigation Team, Mohammad Adib Khumaidi, when contacted by Tempo, Tuesday, June 29.

Adib said the high rate of deaths among doctors was in line with the overload capacity of hospitals or a high number of Covid-19 patients. In the past week alone, the country's number of new infections continued to rise, even reaching more than 21,000 new cases on June 27, 2021.

Several regions outside Jakarta became large infection clusters, such as Kudus, Bangkalan, and Bandung. This condition, said Adib, increased the risk of virus exposure to doctors.

“There is also overwork, fatigue among medical staff and health workers,” Adib added.

Adib went on to say that there were 2,748 doctors who had been exposed to Covid-19 during the pandemic. The number might be higher because the data until May 2021 has not been updated yet.

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EGI ADYATAMA