If the hospital and ICU are full, what happens?

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Early last September, the COVID-19 Handling Task Force asked to redistribute patients because the capacity of the referral hospital was almost full. The spokesperson for the task force said that 7 of the 67 referral hospitals were 100 percent full, both inpatient rooms and ICU rooms.

Bali Province is the region with the highest percentage of use of beds and isolation rooms, followed by DKI Jakarta, East Kalimantan and Central Java. Meanwhile, the highest percentage of ICU use was in the provinces of DKI Jakarta, then West Nusa Tenggara, Papua, and South Kalimantan.

Most of the hospitals in Jakarta that have referred COVID-19 cases are now at their full limit. The full capacity of the hospital and the difficulty of finding referrals for COVID-19 patients to get an ICU were complained by many health workers.

What happens if all hospitals and ICU referral rooms for COVID-19 are used 100 percent?

What happens if the treatment room and ICU room for COVID-19 patients are full?

Under normal conditions, the ICU usually runs at about up to 70% capacity. This is to leave room for the unit to maintain sufficient resources and allow space in case of additional patients.

Hospitals can increase their ICU capacity to accommodate surges, such as those caused by COVID-19. But another problem lies in the availability of insufficient resources and manpower and starting to get tired.

"If the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase, the capacity of hospitals that are almost full or those that are already full will be running out. This condition can hamper the care services provided to all patients, "said dr. Alan Jones, a doctor who treats COVID-19 patients at University of Mississippi Medical Center, when their ICU room was full since a few months ago.

“People are queuing outside and they cannot enter, the hospital even provides treatment in the parking lot. That's a very scary situation to see, "said Jones, giving an example of the conditions faced by several hospitals in New York City.

In Indonesia, positive cases of COVID-19 continue to increase with an average addition of 4000 cases per day. Today, Tuesday (6/10), the total has reached 307,102 cases. Jakarta is still the province with the highest rate of increasing infections, around 1000 cases per day.

To deal with the increasing number of cases that are still ongoing, increasing the capacity of the ICU in hospitals or wards cannot be done just like that. Because, not only need space, but the thing that is most needed now is health personnel.

A pulmonary specialist at the Friendship Hospital, Erlina Burhan, said that the ICU room occupancy has now been forced to increase from 70 percent to 92 percent. According to him, the occupancy rate above 90 percent makes health workers inconvenient and exhausted.

"We are still ready to treat patients, it's just that we need special skilled personnel for the ICU," said Alsen Arlan, director of MKP services at Friendship Hospital, (1/9).

COVID-19 Outbreak updates Country: IndonesiaData

1,024,298

Confirmed

831,330

Recovered

28,855

DeathDistribution Map

Suppress the transmission rate

Reducing the number of COVID-19 transmission is another solution that must be done to maintain the ability of hospital services. Several countries, such as Taiwan, have managed to combat the virus through tracing (tracking) and testing (testing) aggressive.

South Korea, despite the initial massive transmission of cases superspreader , they have now succeeded in reducing the spread and the minimum number of deaths.

A study in Italy shows what is at stake for all of us if we fail to keep transmission rates at bay. "Increasing the number of cases can turn a health emergency into a crisis," the study wrote.

Indonesian epidemiologist dr. Panji Hadisoemarto said the collapse of the Indonesian health system in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic was not only seen from the number of hospitals and ICU rooms that were full. But the capacity for tracking and testing is being done to find new cases as quickly as possible before transmitting more.