Indonesia encounters oxygen crisis amidst Covid rise

Indonesia is currently facing a severe oxygen crisis as the COVID cases have surged in the country. The Government of Indonesia has ordered the producers to give priority to medical oxygen amidst the shortage of oxygen in some cities.

The hospitals are saying that they have almost exhausted the supply. One hospital has reported that 63 patients have died as a result of the oxygen crisis. Indonesia is recording more than 25000 new cases every day. Due to the increased travel and deadlier Delta variant, the crisis is growing up.

Indonesia has faced the worst Covid outbreak in South East Asia. They are having around 2.3 million positive cases and more than 60K deaths.

But the experts are warning that the overall numbers are potentially higher due to the inadequate testing outside Jakarta. A lockdown has been imposed on the main island of this country, Java, and in Bali.

On Monday, two of the hospitals in the city of Bandung announced that they are facing an oxygen crisis. Hence, they had to reject the new patients who were seeking emergency treatment.

The emergency services and the ICUs of the hospitals in Bandung, Pamekasan, Surakarta are struggling with the surge inpatient admission. Some of the hospitals are turning away the patients, while others have set tents outside.

It’s more like an ear emergency, as a woman who was seeking treatment for her mother. Her mother has been rejected at a hospital that is running out of beds. After that, she was able to admit her to a makeshift tent at another hospital.

In the RSUD in Bandung, the emergency room was not available for the Covid patients. The lack of oxygen is one of the reasons. Four days ago, there was a shortage of oxygen supply from the vendors and distributors. He has added that the producers are struggling to meet the increasing demand from the hospitals.

The health ministry official Siti Nadia Tarmizi has said that they asked the gas industry to come forward for the production of medical oxygen. She is also hoping that people must not stock up the oxygen as it can worsen the situation. Her comments are coming as people have been trying to secure the oxygen cylinders privately for home care treatment. New cylinders and refills are hard to come, and the prices have doubled due to the high demand.

Credits: BBC