Hospitals take contigency measures

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.