Indonesia facing shortage of medical oxygen

Jakarta, July 11 (SocialNews.XYZ) Amid an ongoing Covid-19 resurgence, Indonesia is facing a shortage of medical oxygen as many hospitals across the country are in dire need to cope with the overwhelming number of infected patients.

Oxygen supplies to hospitals in Indonesia are in scarcity as the number of cases continues to surge, and some of them have to close their doors to new patients with respiratory distress, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Covid-19 caseload in Indonesia has increased to 2,491,006, while the death toll stood 65,457, the Health Ministry said.

The Indonesian Association of Public Health Experts (IAKMI) had predicted that in June and July there would be a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.

"The increase in cases and the oxygen scarcity are due to the government's inability to predict and anticipate the situation," Hermawan Sapura, a member of the IAKMI Expert Council, told the Kompas daily.

The increase was measured by several factors, namely the massive crowds due to major national holidays, the euphoria of a nationwide vaccination drive and also the disobedience of people who were tired of practicing health protocols.

From early June to early July, at least 324 people died as they had to make self-isolation at homes with inadequate health facilities, according to LaporCovid-19, a coalition.

"People flocked to hospitals, which became full and overwhelmed, running out of oxygen, so that many died outside the hospitals. Health facilities have collapsed," Said Fariz Hibban from LaporCovid-19 said.

According to Secretary General of the Indonesian Hospital Association (Persi) Lia Gardenia Partakusuma, several factors have caused the crisis of oxygen stockpile in the country.

The first is the high demand for oxygen in hospitals, which is skyrocketing with the spike in the number of patients, she pointed out.

"For example, one hospital usually needs three tons of oxygen for three days to a week, but now it runs out in one day. There is even an increase of up to five times from before," she said, adding that the oxygen demand in the capital Jakarta as well as in West Java and Banten provinces is 750 to 800 tonnes per day, whereas in normal times it was only around 150-200 tonnes.

The nearly five-fold increase is not matched by the ability to deliver oxygen from distributors to hospitals, she added.

The lack of oxygen stockpile is caused by the limited number of tubes which are not easy to produce. As a result, oxygen cylinders become scarce and expensive.

"Another problem is that there are people who are not sick, but they just keep oxygen tubes at homes. Some even keep oxygen stocks of up to four tubes. That will affect small clinics that need oxygen cylinders because they are so scarce," she said.

Source: IANS