TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinator of volunteer group LaporCovid-19, Said Fariz Hibban, said the group highly regrets the Health Ministry’s response which they claim has played down an emergency situation happening in numerous hospitals treating Covid-19 patients.

Hibban insists that the volunteer group is disappointed and angered by the response provided by the Health Ministry’s director of disease prevention and control Siti Nadia Tarmizi who said on Sunday, July 4, “It isn’t a collapse, more like an overcapacity. Because there were many patients admitted at the same time.”

In response, Hibban said on the same day “How could a State Official say that, especially amidst a condition that is crystal clear, clearly an emergency.”

The LaporCovid-19 coordinator insists that the emergency situation across hospitals and healthcare workers is clearly happening in Jakarta and its satellite cities in Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi, as the grup logged 278 deaths of Covid-19 patients before they were able to receive medical treatment.

He said these people died while undergoing self-isolation, during their way to healthcare facilities, or queuing to receive treatment at a hospital. Hibban insists that this condition motivated the group to declare the situation an emergency.

Hibban believes the government should have accepted the data rather than being defensive against it. “Did they deny our statement to save face? If so, that is worrying. How could they, trying to save their image amidst an emergency,” he said on July 4 related to the Covid-19 emergency situation.

Read also: Warnings Foreseeing Covid-19 Surge in May 'Ignored', says Epidemiologist

BUDIARTI UTAMI PUTRI