Hospitals take contigency measures

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Taking a lesson from the bomb blasts on Bali that killed nearly 200 people, the Jakarta City Health Agency, in cooperation with private and state hospitals, has established standard procedures for helping victims of terrorist attacks in the capital.

The head of the City Health Agency, Choliq Masulili, said he had held a meeting with executives of 101 private and state hospitals in the city to discuss the emergency plans.

"During the meeting, we agreed to establish standard procedures to help victims if such an unexpected incident were to occur here," Choliq told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

He said the procedures established that hospitals nearest the attack site were obliged to go on standby to provide medical treatment for the wounded and to help identify the dead.

Choliq said the procedures were put in place after officials here saw the difficulties faced by hospitals in Bali in treating the victims of the bombings.

"We should prepare umbrellas before the rain falls," he said.

There are 54 ambulances ready to be put into operation at all times and that number can be increased to up to 200 ambulances if necessary, he said.

According to Choliq, hospitals in the capital were equipped and prepared to provide medical care for victims of terrorist attacks, even of the magnitude of the bombings in Bali.

He said there were numerous medical specialists in the capital who could be deployed quickly, adding that exercises for such a contingency had already begun to be implemented.

The city administration, according to Choliq, would take responsibility for all medical costs for victims of attacks, adding that the hospitals should never turn away victims.

"The hospitals will not ask the victims to pay as we will pay their costs, so there is no reason for hospitals to deny them," he said, adding that this also applied for foreigners.

Choliq, however, admitted that there was no single hospital in the city that had sufficient facilities to store bodies if the casualty toll in an attack reached up to 200 people.

"The capacity of the storage facilities at the capital's hospitals is less than 100. If casualties reached 200 or 300 people, we would have to use refrigerators that are usually used to store meat," said Choliq.

Choliq said he had made a proposal to City Hall to purchase additional storage facilities, so that at least each of the city's five mayoralties would have the facility.