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'Our nurses are exhausted': Association asks government to limit working hours
To date, 2,890 nurses have contracted COVID-19 and 104 have died of the disease.
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A nurse works at a ward for COVID-19 patients at the Bogor general hospital in Bogor city, West Java, on Sept. 3.
(AFP/Adek Berry)
E
ight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, frontline workers are bearing the brunt of the outbreak and are starting to suffer from burnout, a nurse association reveals.
“Our nurses are exhausted because the pandemic has been going on for quite some time,” the head of the Lampung chapter of the National Nurses Association (PPNI), Dedy Afrizal, said on Friday as quoted by tribunnews.com.
Therefore, he asked the government to seriously impose strict limits on nurses' working hours.
He revealed that even though the government had modified the working hours of nurses, from eight hours per shift to four hours, the policy did not apply to all regions.
“We also need to evaluate and coordinate in the regions because the great risks that come with long hours of handling COVID-19 patients will also affect the nurses’ [mental] well-being and job performance," he said.
He added that if nurses become incapacitated from exhaustion, entire communities will be affected.
"Imagine eight straight hours working in hazmat suits. Therefore, the government must strictly implement the [four-hour work shifts].”
Sari, a 28-year-old nurse working in a hospital in South Kalimantan, revealed that she still works eight-hour shift a day because of the lack of health workers in the province.
"We still work eight hours, both nurses assigned in the general and COVID-19 wards," she said as quoted by tribunnews.com.
She said she was worried every time she went home from work because she lived with people who were vulnerable to highly infectious diseases such as COVID-19.
"I live with a baby and several elderly people at home.”
Despite the odds, Dedy expects health workers across Indonesia to continue their duties in a professional manner.
"Stay enthusiastic. We have chosen this profession, so hopefully, we all can maintain the spirit of our duty with sincerity and full of professionalism.”
In addition, the PPNI asked the public to help relieve the burden on nurses by following the 3M protocol (wearing masks, washing their hands with soap and running water and maintaining a distance from others).
PPNI chairman Harif Fadhilah revealed that to date, 2,890 nurses have contracted COVID-19 and 104 have died of the disease. He believes the figure will increase because the COVID-19 curve has yet to be flattened.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) revealed that 136 Indonesian doctors have died of COVID-19 as of early October. Of them, 71 were general practitioners, 63 were specialists and two resident physicians from 18 provinces and 66 cities and regencies. (iwa)
Editor’s note: This article is part of a public campaign by the COVID-19 task force to raise people’s awareness about the pandemic.
