Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The usual hospital smell of cleaning products, which gives some people the creeps, was replaced Wednesday by a fishy odor in two of Jakarta's hospitals.
Five days after Mintoharjo Navy Hospital in Bendungan Hilir, Central Jakarta, and Sumber Waras Hospital in Grogol, West Jakarta, were swamped with muddy water, hospital staff started to clean up.
""What's that smell? Are you the one who smell's bad?,"" Sumber Waras spokesperson and surgeon Dr Tjandra G. joked with a nurse who was mopping the floor of a room in the hospital.
""Oh... please. I've gone through a bottle of Lysol cleaning up this place,"" she said.
At Mintoharjo hospital, navy cadets used spray hoses to dislodge the thick mud in front of the main building, while nurses mopped the floors and other staff scrubbed furniture.
The flood forced the navy hospital to shut down operations Friday and evacuate its 125 patients to other hospitals such as the Marine Hospital in Cilandak, South Jakarta, and Harapan Kita Hospital in West Jakarta.
According to Central Statistics Agency data for 2005, the city has 109 hospitals.
Navy Chief Admiral Slamet Soebiyanto, who visited the hospital Wednesday, said he was optimistic things would soon return to normal.
""We hope the hospital can reopen as soon as possible. Tomorrow (Thursday), if possible,"" he said to a ""Yes, sir,"" from hospital head Col. Dr. Sakti Hoetomo.
The flood, which began last Friday, damaged CAT scan and other radiology equipment and a kidney stone crusher.
Slamet said the hospital had yet to calculate flood losses, adding that the Navy had plans to put up defenses in the hospital in anticipation of future floods.
In the meantime, hospital staff, eager to help flood victims, went above and beyond the call of duty to repair the damage.
""We need to be ready for patients coming in with post-flood illnesses, such as diarrheal diseases, fevers and pneumonia. Not to mention dengue fever,"" he said.
While the flood forced Mintoharjo hospital to evacuate its patients, Sumber Waras Hospital, which was also affected by the flooding, remained open.
Dr. Tjandra of Sumber Waras Hospital said that due to the flooding, patients staying on the ground floor had been relocated to higher floors.
He said the hospital had stopped taking outpatients, but continued to treat its inpatients. ""Some operations went ahead as scheduled"".
He noticed a decrease in the number of inpatients over the last week.
""On Friday there were 158 patients. Now, there are only 112 patients. Some patients went home, while others might have found the hospital difficult to reach.""
He said some nurses and doctors had not been at work because their homes were inundated.
""So, the available doctors were standing by and also covering for the absent doctors.""
Dr. Tjandra said a surgeon, whose house in the Green Garden Complex, Grogol, was almost totally under water, made it to the hospital by truck to carry out an operation.
