Buleleng Council Inspects Hospital After Viral Oxygen Complaint, Pushes for Upgrade
The Buleleng Regional People’s Representative Council (DPRD) carried out an unannounced inspection of Giri Emas Regional General Hospital (RSUD) on Friday, following a viral social media complaint from a patient’s family regarding oxygen availability and hospital services. Council member Dody Tisna Adi stated that the inspection concluded the incident was not caused by a depletion of oxygen stock, but was allegedly due to human error. The DPRD has requested that the incident be used as evaluation material to encourage an increase in the service capacity of RSUD Giri Emas.
“Our concern now is no longer about the oxygen, but how RSUD Giri Emas can improve its services,” Dody said. He added that service improvement should be accompanied by upgrading the hospital’s status from Type D to Type C. Through this upgrade, the hospital serving the eastern Buleleng region is expected to handle more patients without needing to refer them to Buleleng Regional Hospital.
Secretary of Commission IV of the Buleleng DPRD, Nyoman Dhuka Jaya, added that the status change requires several conditions. These include increasing bed capacity from 50 to 100 units, constructing inpatient rooms, adding specialist doctors, and completing supporting facilities and infrastructure. “The estimated budget required is around IDR 20 billion, excluding the procurement of medical equipment,” Dhuka said.
The Head of Administration at RSUD Giri Emas, I Made Karmawan Putra, confirmed that the viral incident was not caused by an empty oxygen stock. The disruption occurred because of a vacuum at the outlet or distribution point to the patient. After staff switched the supply to a reserve cylinder, the oxygen flow returned to normal. “This will be an evaluation for us. We have also improved the standard operating procedures so this does not happen again. This serves as future mitigation so that staff are more alert and provide the best service to the community,” Karmawan explained.
Karmawan assured that the hospital’s oxygen stock is safe and sufficient for service needs. He also welcomed the DPRD’s support for upgrading RSUD Giri Emas to a Type C hospital. According to him, the upgrade would open opportunities to add specialist services such as cardiology, pulmonology, ear, nose, and throat (ENT), ophthalmology, and orthopaedics. Through this effort, the community in the eastern Buleleng area can obtain more complete health services without needing to be referred to other hospitals. “Our specialists are still lacking. Currently, we only have four basic specialists, namely obstetrics, internal medicine, paediatrics, and surgery, plus one neurologist. We also have three supporting specialists: radiology, anaesthesiology, and clinical pathology,” Karmawan said. He also revealed that RSUD Giri Emas currently does not have a cardiologist. “We previously had a cardiologist, but they were assigned to continue their education. So, since January 2026, we have no longer had a cardiologist,” he explained.