Jakarta Governor Evaluates JAKIM After Participant Death, Highlights Medical Services

Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung Wibowo is evaluating the organisation of the Jakarta International Marathon (JAKIM) 2026 after a participant died, suspected of suffering a heart attack and dehydration. “It is true that one person died, suspected of having a heart attack and then experiencing dehydration. So we will certainly improve this, especially in terms of care and health service availability,” Pramono said at City Hall on Wednesday.

Despite this, Pramono noted that compared to other running events handled by the Jakarta Provincial Government, JAKIM already had a sufficient number of ambulances, doctors, and nurses. However, he will still evaluate the incident to prevent it from happening again.

Meanwhile, the number of medical team personnel on standby for the BTN Jakarta International Marathon (BTN JAKIM) 2026 increased by approximately 35 per cent compared to last year’s event. This increase occurred even though the number of participants this year was lower than the previous edition.

Medical Director of BTN JAKIM, Dr Andhika Raspati, said the personnel increase was carried out to strengthen health services during the race. Dr Andhika explained that the BTN JAKIM 2026 medical team consisted of 257 personnel deployed across 10 medical tents, 21 ambulances, and 40 mobile or roaming medic points along the race route.

According to him, all personnel were competent and experienced health workers, including sports medicine specialists, anaesthesiologists, doctors from the Sports Medicine Specialist Education Programme (PPDS), general practitioners, physiotherapists, nurses, and trained paramedics. In addition, all personnel had undergone training, briefings, and operational preparations before the race.

“Our work plan has been approved by the Technical Delegate from World Athletics,” Dr Andhika said. Despite the increase in personnel, Dr Andhika acknowledged that the medical team faced challenges on the second day of the BTN JAKIM 2026 event due to a surge in simultaneous emergency calls at various points along the route. He explained that this condition required the medical team to coordinate and handle cases simultaneously based on the severity of each patient. As a result, the movement of personnel, including ambulances, took longer to reach all locations requiring assistance.