VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Sanglah Central General Hospital (RSUP Sanglah), Denpasar, Bali. (Antara/Ayu Khania Pranisitha/2021)/rst - 

Director of the Sanglah Central General Hospital (RSUP Sanglah) in Denpasar, Bali, Dr I Wayan Sudana ensured that beds and oxygen supply are available for COVID-19 patients.

"We have 205 beds in ICU and non-ICU rooms for COVID-19 patients. Our oxygen supply is available both in tank and liquid form," Sudana noted in a press release at Denpasar, Bali, today.

The doctor further confirmed that the RSUP Sanglah had 710 beds in total and had set aside 205 beds for COVID-19 patients segregated into ICU and non-ICU rooms.

Currently, the hospital's ICU rooms have 123 beds occupied by 94 patients. When converted to the Bed Occupancy Rate (BOR), RSUP Sanglah had 76.4 percent of the beds occupied.

Patients, with mild and moderate symptoms, occupy 61 beds from a total of 82 available beds. When converted to BOR, 74.4 percent of RSUP Sanglah’s non-ICU beds were occupied. Combined with the figure from ICU rooms, the BOR of RSUP Sanglah reached 75.6 percent.

"To support patients' recovery, we also need oxygen supply. We ensured until today that RSUP Sanglah had sufficient stocks of oxygen. We had two sources of oxygen from tanks and liquid supply," Sudana stated.

The doctor confirmed that the hospital had a supply of two oxygen tanks that lasted for two days and would be refilled at least every 48 hours.

According to a press release, RSUP Sanglah's daily needs of oxygen stood at 2,000-2,500 cubic meters (m3). Since the average supply doubled to 4,000-5,000 m3, oxygen supply is safe, and its distribution to patients is unhindered.

"We continue to monitor that this supply does not run out," he stated.

As the number of COVID-19 cases spiked in some regions in Indonesia, including Bali, since June 17, RSUD Sanglah has continued to prepare additional beds and oxygen supply.

"Daily monitoring would be conducted to avoid suboptimal services," Sudana noted while concluding his statement//ANT

United States Secretary of the treasury Janet Yellen speaks during a press conference at a G20 Economy, Finance ministers and Central bank governors' meeting in Venice, Italy on Jul 11, 2021. (Photo: AP/Luca Bruno) - 

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday (Jul 11) she was "very concerned" about the risk that new variants of coronavirus could pose to the global economic recovery from the pandemic.

"We are very concerned about the Delta variant and other variants that could emerge and threaten recovery," she told reporters following a G20 meeting in Venice, Italy.

"We are a connected global economy, what happens in any part of the world affects all other countries."

In their final statement issued late Saturday, G20 finance ministers warned that the spread of new variants was a "downside risk" to the economic recovery, while also warning of the dangers of differing paces of vaccination campaigns.

"We recognise the importance of working together to speed the process of vaccination and have the goal of wanting to vaccinate 70 per cent of the world's population next year," Yellen said.

She said "a lot has been done" to finance the purchase of vaccines by developing countries, but said the world needed to "do something more and to be more effective" with respect to responding to outbreaks around the world, such as sending therapeutics and protective equipment.

The G20 on Friday heard from a specially commissioned panel of experts who warned the world must invest much more - at least US$75 billion over the next five years - to prepare for and try to avert the next pandemic.

"While we're focused on the medium- and long-term ... we certainly realise we also need to do more in the near term," Yellen said.

The World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Health Organization "have formed a taskforce to work on this and we've asked that we have regular monthly reports on how that work is going and that we address this issue more fully in October" at the G20 ministers' next meeting.

"But certainly variants represent a threat to the entire globe," Yellen said//CNA

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir. ANTARA PHOTO/Muhammad Iqbal/pd/pri -  

Several state-owned companies assist the government to cope with a COVID-19 surge that has triggered a drastic increase in demand for medical oxygen by distributing 27 ISO tank containers to hospitals.

"On Saturday, we received six more ISO tanks from Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, bringing the total number of tank containers to 27," State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said.

The six ISO tanks of medical oxygen would directly be distributed to hospitals in dire need of oxygen in Central Java and Yogyakarta Provinces, he was quoted by ANTARA saying on his Instagram account on Sunday.

Thohir has instructed state-owned enterprises, including Pertamina and state fertilizer holding company PT Pupuk Indonesia, to support the government's fight against coronavirus by converting their tank trucks for transportation of medical oxygen.

Meanwhile, Logistics and Infrastructure Director at state oil and gas company PT Pertamina Mulyono was quoted from Thohir's Instagram account as saying that the 27 tank containers could carry 540 tonnes of medical oxygen per day.

"The capacity of each ISO tank is 20 tonnes so that 27 tank containers may carry 540 tonnes," he said, adding that the health ministry revealed that Indonesia needs some 800 tonnes of oxygen for medical purposes per day.

Over the past few weeks, Indonesia has been facing a severe second wave of COVID-19 amid a growing threats of more transmissible Delta variant.

Data of the ministries of health and industry pointed to a fivefold increase in the demand for medical oxygen cylinders amid the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases.

Amid this alarming situation, the government has requested to convert all supplies of oxygen to fulfill medical requirements as the country battles a major spike in COVID-19 cases.

Maritime Affairs and Investment Coordinating Minister Luhut B. Pandjaitan said on July 5 that the availability of medical oxygen cylinders matters and must be addressed immediately.

The COVID-19 pandemic initially struck the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019 and subsequently spread across the globe, including to countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Indonesian government announced the country's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.

Since then, the central and regional governments have striven incessantly to flatten the nation's coronavirus curve by applying healthcare protocols and public activity restrictions//ANT

Medical worker shows Sinopharm vaccine in a paid-vaccination center in Senayan, Jakarta on Saturday (July 19, 2021). ANTARA PHOTO/Akbar Nugroho Gumay/pras - 

State-owned pharmaceutical company PT Kimia Farma has expressed readiness to serve the first stage of Gotong Royong's individually-paid vaccination (VGR) in eight clinics in Java and Bali.

Kimia Farma's President Director Verdi Budidarmo said in a statement here on Sunday that it has been the right time to run self-paid vaccination services as the number of the COVID-19 cases in the country tends to keep rising.

For the first stage, the company has readied eight clinics in six cities.

Budidarmo said the company would gradually expand its coverage, including in malls in big cities.

"After launching the Gotong Royong paid-vaccination by companies, Kimia Farma offers a new option for the public to get self-paid vaccination. We are ready to serve individually-paid vaccination in our clinics across Indonesia. For the first stage, the service can be obtained in eight clinics in Java and Bali," Budidarmo said.

The vaccination would be conducted by Kimia Farma's subsidiary PT Kimia Farma Diagnostika (KFD).

KFD managed 422 clinics and 73 laboratories in the country.

Meanwhile, acting Director of KFD Agus Chandra said the individually-paid vaccination would initially be conducted in two clinics in Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta, and Senen in Central Jakarta.

"Starting next Monday, six other clinics will be ready namely KF Blok M (Jakarta), KF Supratman (Bandung), KF Citarum (Semarang), KF Sukoharjo (Solo), KF Sedati (Surabaya) and KF Batubulan (Bali," he said.

Total capacity of the eight clinics is expected to reach 1,700 participants per day//ANT