TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsTanoto Foundation donates oxygen for COVID-19 patients
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Tanoto Foundation Senior Advisor Sihol Parulian Aritonang hands over symbolically oxygen concentrator to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin. The handover ceremony was attended by officials from the Health Minister, Customs and Excise and Tanoto Foundation. (Courtesy of Tanoto Foundation)
T
housands of coronavirus-affected patients in Indonesia are at a higher risk of getting worse or even death unless the oxygen supply shortage is immediately addressed as the number of patients continues to rise in recent weeks.
Indonesia is facing a shortage of 700 tons of oxygen daily amid the second wave of COVID-19 infections, according to data from the Health Ministry. Another source also says that hospitals are overrun with coronavirus patients as people rush to purchase oxygen for treatment at home.
That’s why the Tanoto Foundation, an independent philanthropy organization, was quick to respond to the emergency situation by donating oxygen concentrators, which are expected to not only help the government cope with the oxygen supply shortage, but also help patients have access to oxygen, which means helping save their lives.
The Tanoto Foundation symbolically handed over a donation of 3,000 oxygen concentrators to the Health Ministry at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, on Monday.
The first 1,000 units arrived in Jakarta from Guangzhou, China, with a chartered Garuda Indonesia aircraft, with the remainder scheduled to arrive on Aug. 10.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin expressed his gratitude on behalf of the government when accepting the donation in person.
“Every unit of oxygen concentrator from the Tanoto Foundation will alleviate the burden on our strained healthcare system. This oxygen concentrator donation will give patients the chance to have a continuous oxygen supply at home or isolation centers, and also frees up hospital beds for the ones that need them more,” Budi said. “On behalf of the government of Indonesia, I would like to thank the Tanoto Foundation for its swift, timely and expansive support, which enables us to fight the pandemic with better resources and gives hope to every Indonesian who is affected by the pandemic.”
The Tanoto Foundation was founded by Sukanto Tanoto and Tinah Bingei Tanoto in 1981.
The oxygen concentrator donation comes at a time when Indonesian hospitals are scrambling for medical oxygen due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in recent months.
The total oxygen concentrator that the Tanoto Foundation supplied will directly benefit around 6,000 patients per month.
The beneficiaries are those who experience low to mild COVID-19 symptoms and hence may be treated at home or isolation centers with the help of oxygen concentrators.
J. Satrijo Tanudjojo, the global CEO of the Tanoto Foundation, reiterated the Tanoto Foundation’s commitment to supporting the government in the fight against COVID-19.
“When we saw the rising need for liquid medical oxygen and oxygen concentrators, we quickly tapped into our network [domestic and abroad] to source them directly and work with the Health Ministry for distribution to hospitals in Indonesia. It is our hope that this can help save the lives of those currently fighting COVID-19.”
Oxygen for Indonesia
The Tanoto Foundation’s swift step to donate oxygen concentrators is part of an oxygen aid initiative carried out in collaboration with the government.
Since early July, the Tanoto Foundation has been working with the Health Ministry to help address the oxygen shortage in Indonesia.
On July 9, the first batch of a total of 500 tons of liquid medical oxygen left the site of PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (APRIL Group) in Pangkalan Kerinci, Riau, to be distributed to designated hospitals in Java and Bali.
On July 13, the first 1,500 oxygen concentrators were delivered to Jakarta as part of the donation, which involved 16 partner organizations, including the Tanoto Foundation and Temasek Foundation, bringing total of 11,000 oxygen concentrators to Indonesia. Of them, 1,000 concentrators were donated by the Tanoto Foundation.
The additional 2,000 oxygen concentrators were sourced directly by the Tanoto Foundation from Foshan, China, consisting of 1,400 single channel oxygen concentrator with a capacity of 10 liters per minute (l/min) and 600 double channel oxygen concentrator with a capacity of 10 l/min.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry recommended that COVID-19 patients with low to mild symptoms undergo quarantine for 10 days and an extra three days after the symptoms disappear.
This utilization of oxygen concentrators would free-up the oxygen supply that is highly needed by patients requiring intensive care at hospitals, thus benefitting a much larger number of COVID-19 patients.
Save the medical workers
In April 2020, shortly after the first cases of COVID-19 were announced in Indonesia, the Tanoto Foundation donated 1 million surgical masks, 1 million gloves, 100,000 personal protection equipment (PPE) and 30,000 goggles to Indonesia’s healthcare workers amid a shortage of medical supplies in the country. All donated items arrived in Jakarta within the first 10 days of large-scale social restrictions (PSBB).
