Manokwari, W Papua – The province of West Papua is preparing a technical assistance in anticipation of overburdening of health services due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The province has currently prepared a functional strategy to deal with the pandemic, executive chairman of the West Papua COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Derek Ampnir, said in Manokwari on Monday.
The operational plan has actually been drawn up to ensure that the catastrophe can be managed appropriately using available medical resources, security forces, and volunteers, he described.
If there are health workers in exposed health facilities, they will compute how long they have to be rested. If there are no more health employees there, then yes, we would have to find volunteers,” Ampnir informed.
He further stated that the Health Workplace will look into the technicalities to guarantee the accessibility of health workers in facilities such as health centers and hospitals so that continuous health services can be supplied to individuals of West Papua.
” The time limitation for seclusion of COVID-19 patients is 14 days. If it is health employees who are exposed to it (coronavirus), their absence should be filled so that services can continue,” he explained.
Although it impacts making use of the budget, the procedure needs to be taken so that all health centers in West Papua can operate usually, he noted including that he hoped the work of all health workers in the province would be optimized.
Apart from Manokwari, a great deal of health employees have been exposed to COVID-19 in Bintuni Bay, Sorong, and Raja Ampat, he informed.
The West Papua government is aiming to make sure that this does not affect the stability of health services, he said.
” We are extremely worried that they (health workers) have a huge function in managing COVID-19 For this factor, we have continued to advise all health employees to be genuinely disciplined in implementing health protocols– any place they are, when working, or doing activities beyond their duties,” he stated.
Chairperson of the Manokwari district’s COVID-19 job force, Dr. Henri Sembiring, had actually previously stated that a number of Neighborhood Health Facilities (Puskesmas) in Manokwari needed to be briefly closed due to the fact that health workers at the centers had tested positive for coronavirus.
In Manokwari, he said, the cluster of health employees evaluating favorable has actually up until now reached 73– 37 of them are being treated in hospitals, while 36 are being dealt with in Puskesmas.
The number of health workers exposed to COVID-19 in the district has continued to increase since last week, he stated. (INE)
Related news: Manokwari’s 38 healthcare employees contract COVID-19
Associated news: 36 Army officers contract COVID-19 in West Papua
EDITED BY INE
