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Non-COVID-19 patients refused care amid case surge
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Patients sleep under an emergency tent at Dr. Sardjito General Hospital in Sleman, Yogyakarta on July 4, 2021. Yogyakarta health authorities confirmed the death of 63 COVID-19 patients treated at the hospital between July 3 and 4 due to a depleting medical oxygen supply. (Antara/Hendra Nurdiyansyah)
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on-coronavirus patients are grappling with concerns that hospitals might refuse to treat them due to a recent surge of COVID-19 cases that has pushed the country’s healthcare system to the limit.
Dewi Safitri, 17, went to several hospitals in Jakarta to seek treatment for her mother, whose legs had been injured in a recent accident. All the hospitals she visited said they could not treat her mother, primarily because they were already full because of COVID-19.
“We went to around five hospitals on June 26, all of which rejected [to treat] my mother because they were at full capacity with COVID-19 patients” Dewi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, adding that after failing to get care for her mother, she had to treat her mother's injury at home.
It was a similar story for Yanti Agustina, 39, who struggled to get her father treated at a hospital after he suffered a third stroke last month.
To make matters worse, the deteriorating COVID-19 situation had spooked her father such that he refused to go to the hospital to get any treatment.
Two weeks ago, Yanti finally managed to get a doctor's appointment for her 69-year-old father, but his condition had deteriorated and she could do little to help him, especially after a close relative who lives in a nearby town died of COVID-19.
“I am at my wit’s end, his condition is so bad, yet there is little we can do,” she told the Post over the phone on Tuesday. “If it wasn't for COVID, he could easily have been taken care of.”
