The Indonesia Post – The death rate for health workers due to Covid-19 continues to increase. Almost every day there are doctors or nurses who are reported to have died from Covid-19.
Amnesty International Indonesia’s data shows that until early September at least 181 Indonesian health workers (health workers) had died. Details 112 doctors and 69 nurses.
This figure makes Indonesia one of the countries with the largest number of health worker deaths in the world. Below Mexico, with the number of health worker deaths of 1320 people. United States 1077 deaths, India 573 deaths, Brazil 324 deaths, South Africa 240 deaths and India 573 deaths.
Even if we look at the mortality ratio, Indonesia, which has a death ratio of 2.3 percent, surpasses the United States and Mexico, which have a death ratio of 0.6 and 1.9 percent.
“This figure has increased significantly. In mid-July, when Amnesty published a global report on health workers who were exposed to COVID-19, the number of Indonesian health workers who died was at least 89 people. Now, this number has doubled, ”said Usman Hamid, Director of Amnesty International Indonesia on their official website.
There has been much speculation about the cause of the high mortality rate for health workers. At the beginning of the pandemic, the cause of death was the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE). However, at present, the cause is not minimal PPE anymore.
A recent study from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia (FKUI) shows that all health workers experience burnout. A syndrome or group of symptoms caused by stressors and workplace conflicts.
To put it simply, these health workers experience stress. Unusual stress. God-level stress. The causes can be due to emotional exhaustion, loss of empathy, and reduced self-confidence.
Burnout on health workers causes fatigue both physically and emotionally. This situation weakens the body’s immune system, making it more susceptible to Covid-19 and at risk of causing severe symptoms and even leading to death.
“This must be vigilant because once it gets heavy, it is difficult to handle. Something must be done immediately because it has an impact on the work of health workers as the frontline for handling Covid-19,” said Doctor Specialist in Occupational Medicine Dwi Sumaryani Soemarko, who is also the head of the research, quoted from CNNIndonesia, Friday (4 / 9).
This research was conducted using a cross-sectional method through an online survey of health workers throughout Indonesia.
There were 1,461 health workers surveyed in 34 provinces. Consisting of doctors, specialists, dentists, nurse midwives, pharmacists, and laboratory analysts. They filled out a questionnaire between June and August 2020.
Their average age was 18-63 years with years of service ranging from 6 months to 32 years. During the Covid-19 pandemic, respondents admitted working hours had decreased, from previously between 43-14 hours per week to 38-15 hours per week.
The majority of respondents or around 55 percent stated that they had handled Covid-19 patients. The results showed that all doctors and health workers experienced burnout at different levels.
Meanwhile, based on the type of profession, general practitioners experienced moderate burnout of 81 percent, special doctors 80 percent, dentists 82 percent, nurses 84 percent, midwives 83 percent, laboratory workers 87 percent, and pharmacists 84 percent.
Stress is dangerous. Raja Dangdut Rhoma Irama has long warned against the dangers of stress. Even leaked the medicine. But what about burnout stress, which is not ordinary stress, which is god-level stress. I wonder what is the cure? (ojn/bbs)
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