Reports have surfaced about patients in Greater Jakarta having to wait for a long time to get tests or treatment for possible cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as referral hospitals face increasing strain.

Azizah, who had been in contact with a COVID-19 patient in Jakarta, went to get tested after the central government announced the confirmed case on March 14.

She went to Gatot Subroto Army Hospital, a referral center for coronavirus patients, on Monday. She waited until about 5 p.m., when the hospital told her to come back on Tuesday at 8 a.m.

“I should have been tested on Monday, but I could not get on the waiting list. It was too crowded,” Azizah told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. “[Thank God] I was scheduled to do the test at 12 p.m. today. It is better than not being treated,” she said.

Azizah said she initially intended to do the test at Persahabatan Central General Hospital (RSUP) in East Jakarta, another referral hospital, as dozens of her colleagues, who also had contact with the same person, had gone there earlier.

However, she heard that people had overrun the hospital and the management had asked them to go home.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has acknowledged that a significant increase in patients seeking COVID-19 treatment has been observed over the past two months.

“Medical officers involved in COVID-19 handling are facing a heavy workload because the [number of] people coming to seek medical services has significantly increased. The focus and energy they [medical officers] give are immense,” Anies said during a press briefing on Monday.

“As a matter of fact, the past two months have been quite intense.”

The son of a patient told the Post earlier, on condition of anonymity, that his father had to wait for hours at RSUP Persahabatan only to be rejected. He called a hotline, and the hotline referred him to another referral hospital in Matraman, East Jakarta, where he was rejected as well.

After significant effort and emotional upheaval, his father was hospitalized and confirmed positive for the coronavirus.

Experts have warned that the number of COVID-19 cases will continue to increase in the coming weeks and that Indonesian hospitals are not ready for the significant number of patients that will come.

The Jakarta healthcare system, which has seen the most cases of COVID-19 in the country, has been overwhelmed by the need for facilities following the jump in confirmed cases over the past two weeks.

As of Monday, Jakarta had 356 people under observation for possible COVID-19 infection; 191 of whom were being treated in the hospital, while 165 others were told to go home because they were considered in good condition by the hospitals.

Fushen, a hospital management consultant who works at Krida Wacana Christian University, said that according to data from the Health Ministry there were 19,972 beds in Jakarta hospitals and only 2,051 beds for intensive treatment. Not all of the latter were isolation rooms.

If the number of people under surveillance in Jakarta increased 10 percent each day, Fushen said, in about two months Jakarta would have 75,000 patients. If 50 percent of them required hospitalization, then Jakarta alone would need at least 37,500 beds in May, said Fushen.

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