Galang COVID-19 hospital prepared to admit TKI, ease burden on regional hospitals

The purpose-built Galang Island COVID-19 Specialty Hospital opened on Monday in Batam, Riau Islands province, but has yet to admit any patients, since it must test its medical equipment and ready its medical staff.

Indonesian Military Regional Defense Joint Command I (Kogabwilhan I) commander Vice Adm. Yudo Margono said through the hospital’s inauguration ceremony on Monday that the new hospital would prioritize returning migrant workers (TKI), as Indonesia expected an influx of its nationals to come home from Malaysia.

The returnees would first be quarantined at the Galang hospital and transported back to their hometowns after they were declared healthy and free from the virus, said Margono, who led the hospital's development project.

"So the TKI will be put under quarantine at a healthcare facility. If some are sick, they are often treated directly at a healthcare facility," Margono said. 

He added that a healthcare facility will be treating any sick returnees to help ease the responsibility on many hospitals in the regions, which had been overwhelmed by a large number of returning TKI.

Indonesian migrant staff typically return through Riau Islands province, like the islands of Karimun, Tanjungpinang and Batam.

The hospital wing which has opened was completed by the general public Works and Housing Ministry in the first phase of the project, and was created especially as an observation, quarantine and treatment facility for infectious diseases. The wing has 360 beds, with another 1,000 beds to be added upon completion of the next development phase.

Galang hospital, which occupies the 16-hectare site of a former camp for Vietnamese refugees fleeing the Vietnam War, has been built using modular architectural designs and involves three zones. Zone A contains supporting facilities, including a dormitory for hospital staff and management that's built with 158 beds, a laundry room, a sterilization room and a pharmacy.

Zone B is an individual ward comprising a 20-bed intensive care unit (ICU) and 340 beds for monitoring patients. In addition, it has a laboratory, a storage room for mobile roentgen equipment, a kitchen, a waste management facility and a clean water facility. Meanwhile, Zone C is supposed for use in providing supporting services to both other zones.

As for equipment, Galang hospital has 20 ambulances, four trucks, four minibuses, 2,000 protective personal equipment (PPE) and 5,000 medical masks.

The newly built hospital includes a staff 247 personnel consisting of doctors, nurses, paramedics and nonmedical workers, most of who've been trained to aid the specialty hospital's operation. A healthcare facility staff contains personnel from the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Police and the Riau Islands provincial administration, together with volunteers.

The hospital originated under joint supervision of the general public works ministry and the Riau Islands administration. State-owned developers PT Waskita Karya and PT Wijaya Karya oversaw its construction, along with PT Virama Karya as project management consultant. (roi)