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COVID-19: Ministry to develop temporary hospitals in several regions
Apart from using existing buildings as temporary hospitals, the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry will also look to work with the Religious Affairs Ministry to transform haj dormitories in several regions into facilities to treat COVID-19 patients.
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Medical personnel check equipment in the emergency room of a temporary COVID-19 hospital at Wisma Atlet Kemayoran in Central Jakarta on Monday, March 23, 2020. The facility is expected to be able to house 22,000 patients at most. (Antara/Pool/Hafidz Mubarak A)
T
he State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Ministry plans to transform existing buildings in a number of regions into hospitals for treating COVID-19 patients – following the recent transformation of the athletes village in Jakarta.
"What we did in Jakarta is going to be duplicated in some other provinces," Arya Sinulingga, an aide to SOE Minister Erick Thohir, said on Tuesday.
He added that among the regions were Bandung in West Java, Semarang in Central Java and Surabaya in East Java.
The ministry was also likely to cooperate with the Religious Affairs Ministry to transform some haj dormitories in some regions into COVID-19 hospitals, he said.
Read also: COVID-19: Inadequate medical supplies take toll on lives of Indonesian medical workers
The SOE Ministry, with the help of the Public Works and Housing Ministry, managed to convert four apartment towers of Wisma Atlet Kemayoran in Central Jakarta into a hospital to meet the potentially increasing demand for wards in the coming days.
The facility, previously used to house athletes during the 2018 Asian Games, will be able to accommodate up to 22,000 COVID-19 patients.
Scientists have warned that Indonesia could have tens of thousands of cases by April if the authorities fail to take drastic measures to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. Based on their calculations, Indonesia could be grappling with up to 71,000 COVID-19 cases by the end of April.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia tripled within a week, jumping from 172 positive diagnoses on March 17 to 686 on Tuesday. The number of deaths stood at 55, as the disease had apparently spread to at least 22 of the country's 34 provinces.
