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Outbreak breakout: COVID-19 patient flees isolation ward in Jakarta
The facility is currently treating five COVID-19 patients and eleven others who are under observation for showing symptoms, tempo.co reported.
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A general view of Persahabatan General Hospital (RSUP) in East Jakarta. (JP/Riand Alfiandy)
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COVID-19 patient who was receiving treatment in the isolation ward of Persahabatan General Hospital (RSUP) in East Jakarta has reportedly escaped the facility with the help of family members.
According to Erlina Burhan, the hospital’s spokesperson for matters related to COVID-19, the patient was able to slip away while medical workers were busy.
"[The patient] left through the front door, where her family members were already waiting to help her flee," Erlina told a press conference at the hospital on Friday afternoon.
Read also: Coronavirus pandemic 'could be over by June' if countries act, says Chinese adviser
The facility is currently treating five COVID-19 patients and eleven others who are under observation for showing symptoms, tempo.co reported.
Separately, Jakarta administration official Suharti said the patient decided to leave the hospital because she did not trust the test result diagnosing her as positive for COVID-19. She also demanded proof of her infection, she added.
"The patient claimed that she had shown no symptoms of COVID-19. So, she decided to run because she was afraid of eventually being transferred to a facility [for positive patients]," Suharti said, adding that all COVID-19 patients at the hospital were kept in the same room.
She added that the patient also had financial concerns.
"[The patient’s] family is poor and they have children to feed."
Suharti spoke during a recent meeting with Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan on the capital’s measures to combat COVID-19. The meeting was recorded and can be watched on the Jakarta administration’s official YouTube channel.
Indonesia has so far recorded 69 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Four patients have died during isolation.
However, the figures are believed to be far below the country’s actual number of infections, with many fearing that cases have gone undetected because of the government’s inadequate handling of the health crisis.
Concerns also remain as to whether tests run by the Health Ministry's laboratory are accurate.
At least five people suspected of having the virus have died since late February before authorities eventually announced the first two confirmed cases last week. Some of the suspected patients died while waiting for their test results, although all of their tests eventually came back negative.
In one case, a health official reportedly confirmed the possibility of flawed results from lab tests. (vny)
