Amid Low Recovery Rate, Ketapang Asked to Improve Patient Nutrition

HUMAS PEMPROV KALBAR

Eight Covid-19 patients who have recovered attend a small gathering on Monday (18/5/2020) to mark their discharge from a medical treatment facility in Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

PONTIANAK, KOMPAS – The recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in Ketapang regency, West Kalimantan, is only 4.7 percent, which is quite low. The Ketapang regency government has been asked to pay more attention to the patients’ conditions, especially their nutrient intake and medication.

West Kalimantan Governor Sutarmidji said on Thursday that the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in Ketapang regency was very low, far below those in other regencies in the province. The governor asked the local government to pay special attention to the low recovery rate.

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"The medication usually has the same standards as others. But nutrient intake should be improved. In Pontianak, for example, the mandatory diet for the COVID-19 patients includes honey, eggs, papaya and avocado. They are needed to boost the immune system of the patients,” Sutarmidji said.

Based on data from the West Kalimantan provincial health office, as of Wednesday, the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in Kalimantan had reached about 40 percent. Of the 202 people who tested positive for COVID-19 in West Kalimantan, 79 had recovered.

They are needed to boost the immune system of the patients.

The head of the West Kalimantan provincial health office, Harisson, said on Wednesday evening that the health office had paid special attention to the low recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in Ketapang regency, which was only 4.7 percent. According to data as of June 3, of the 21 people who contracted COVID-19, only one had recovered.

"In my opinion, there is a lack of attention given by the Ketapang regency health office to the COVID-19 patients,” Harisson said.

He said the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in the regency was very low compared to other areas in the province. In Pontianak, 48 percent of the 101 COVID-19 patients had recovered, he said. "In Pontianak, the city government provides a managed apartment (Rusunawa) for the COVID-19 patients,” he said.

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Kompas/Priyombodo

Medical workers and volunteers maintain physical distance on Tuesday (26/5/2020) as they take part in morning exercises with asymptomatic Covid-19 patients at a quarantine facility in Tangerang regency, Banten.

In the Rusunawa apartment, doctors and nurses regularly monitor the patients every day. Health workers in the Rusunawa also provide healthy meals to accelerate the recovery of the patients.

"So once again, I urge the Ketapang regional government, in this case the Ketapang regency health office, to pay special attention to COVID-19 patients,” said Harisson.

“If the Ketapang regency health office is not capable of handling the COVID-19 patients, they can be transferred to Pontianak so that they will get well soon,” he added.

"Actually, in Ketapang, many carriers show no symptoms. The immune system of the infected people should be improved in order to eliminate the virus. The Ketapang health office should therefore provide good nutrients and medicines to help them recover faster,” he said.

Harisson urged health officials in other regencies in the provinces, especially those with a recovery rate below 20 percent, to improve the nutrition of COVID-19 patients so that they would be able to recover sooner and could return to work as usual.

In Ketapang, many carriers show no symptoms. The immune system of the infected people should be improved in order to eliminate the virus.

In his response, the head of the Ketapang regency health office, Rustami, said the low recovery rate in the regency was partly due to the lack of medicine for COVID-19 patients because of delivery problems from Jakarta.

Many medicines ordered by the local office for COVID-19 patients had not yet arrived, he said.

“In addition, many residents are not used to taking traditional herbal medicines,” Rustami said.

However, Rustami did not know what kinds of medicine ordered by the local health office had not arrived. "Sorry, I don\'t really know. But it must be an antiviral," Rustami said.

Rustami said his office was awaiting results from the second round of swab tests for six COVID-19 patients. If the new swab results were negative, the patients would be declared recovered.