Overwhelmed hospital passes on patients

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Overwhelmed by the number of diarrhea patients seeking care, Koja Hospital in North Jakarta has transferred some nearby hospitals.

The city-run hospital had received as many as 350 diarrhea patients since Tuesday last week. Most of them came from Lagoa and Rawa Badak subdistricts. As of Thursday, nine patients had died.

"All of them were children under one year old," Koja vice director Caroline K told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

The hospital on Thursday treated 76 patients -- 67 children and nine adults. As of last week it had transferred some 100 patients to other hospitals, including Tanjung Priok Port Hospital, Atmajaya Hospital and Sukapura Jakarta Islamic Hospital.

The hospital transferred the patients because it has less space due to an ongoing renovation.

It started renovating rooms, including the emergency room, in September and the 11 rooms remaining operational were not sufficient.

As such, patients are being treated in hospital corridors and in waiting rooms on the sixth and eighth floors.

"We have provided 50 additional beds to accommodate the patients and coordinate with nearby hospitals to help us treat the patients," Caroline said.

Atmajaya Hospital in Pluit treated 54 children with diarrhea on Thursday. It has been receiving cases from Koja since Tuesday.

"There are 14 patients who have recovered and none of them died," said Sri, spokeswoman at Atmajaya.

Tanjung Priok Port Hospital, which began receiving patients from Koja on Tuesday, had 24 diarrhea patients, mostly children.

"All of them are treated in the emergency room," said Norma, a nurse.

As of Sunday, the Sukapura Jakarta Islamic Hospital in Cilincing had treated about 70 patients with the ailment, which is believed to have caused the death of a nine-month-old baby last week.

Most of the patients come from Cilincing, Koja, and Rawa Badak areas, said doctor Eka Yuliyati.

According to a doctor, when the number of patients peaked on Tuesday, Sukapura was forced to use a meeting room to treat patients. (ewd)