Doctor: Heart Diseases That Trigger Fatigue Major Cause to KPPS Workers' Death
Translator
Editor
22 February 2024 12:09 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Heart and blood vessel specialist Mega Febrianora said that heart disease was the main cause of fatigue that led to the deaths of local poll workers/administrators or KPPS.
"Fatigue is a manifestation of all the illnesses experienced by a person," Mega said in an event broadcasted by the Ministry of Health, as quoted from Antara, Wednesday, February 22.
As of February 17, the General Election Commission (KPU) recorded that 57 KPPS members had died during the 2024 Election process. They consisted of 29 KPPS members, 10 members of Public Protection, nine witnesses, six officers, two voting committee members, as well as one member of the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu).
Mega's statement is corroborated by data from the Ministry of Health as of 19 February, which stated that heart diseases were the major cause of death among KPPS workers with 13 incidents. There were also eight deaths from accidents, one death from acute respiratory distress (ARDS), and one case of hypertension.
Mega said that the KPPS' work pattern in managing ballot papers is a relatively light administrative activity. But the long work hours make the job dangerous. "Our bodies have a very good compensation mechanism against fatigue. If it's just general fatigue, it's not likely to cause sudden death," she said.
She said that our bodies compensate against strenuous activities by increasing blood pressure and heart rate in order to supply more oxygen. Failures in compensating cause fatigue, which makes blood pressure and pulse rate increase.
The malfunction can be triggered by a number of conditions, she said. "It could be a decline in the heart's abilities which is characterized by a decrease in fraction, ejection, or decreased heart pumping. It can also be caused by other diseases that increase the inability to pump the heart or cause its elasticity to decrease, which is what happens in patients with high blood pressure," she said.
Mega quoted the Health Ministry's data and said that 400,000 people of the total 6.8 million KPPS workers had a high risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and others. Deaths related to these conditions could have been predicted and prevented by strictly selecting KPPS members.
ANTARA
Editor's Choice: Indonesia Election: 57 Poll Workers Died as of February 17, Health Ministry Says
Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
