
From late March to the end of July 2020, AMDA Indonesia and local volunteers set up and ran an emergency department in response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis at Makassar’s Sayang Bunda General Hospital. In order to help the local community, the team of medical personnel helped screen hospital visitors and outpatients to prevent the spread of the viral infection.
The concept:
What was at the core of this project was the so-called "pre-hospital care" concept. In short, it is a type of pre-hospital first aid which refers to emergency activities that take place outside medical facilities. When a patient develops a serious illness or suffers an injury, a team of paramedics, doctors and nurses directly gets involved in the patient transfer on the spot. This time, AMDA Indonesia took this concept further by including mobile clinic, mobile PCR testing and other on-site activities.
Background:
It didn’t take much time for COVID-19 to reach Indonesia when the infection started plaguing the world in early 2020. At the beginning of the pandemic, Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered a large-scale infection test to be conducted immediately for the purpose of early detection of infected persons. The purpose, of course, was to minimize the risk of infection among individuals nationwide.
Sterilization at the hospital gate
The reception area
Objectives:
1. Suppressing the higher hospital referral concentration
2. Lessening the excessive burden on the primary health care facility due to COVID-19, so that it can focus on serving general (non-COVID) patients
3. Handling coronavirus patients in the newly established “COVID-specific” emergency department. This is to avoid contact between the infected persons and general patients
4. Providing comprehensive pre-hospital care services, including prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation related to the viral infection
5. Simplifying the information/data analysis shared between the hospital and local authorities in Makassar
Rapid antibody test (1)
Rapid antibody test (2)
Precautionary guidance at an outdoor tent
The emergency department took the following actions:
1. Setting up a sterilization chamber at the entrance
2. Patient registration
3. Setting apart the waiting room and the examination room with a fair distance
4. Providing precautionary guidance and instructions pertaining to COVID-19 such as hand-washing
5. Consultations by resident health consultants and specialist physicians
6. Blood test, antibody test, radiology and pharmacy services
7. 14-day patient monitoring
8. Ambulance services
9. Patient data entry work (for submission to South Sulawesi Provincial Government)
10. Mobile swab PCR testing and mobile clinic services
Radiological examination
Consultations by resident specialists
14-day patient monitoring under the staff’s coherent care
About the ambulance used in this project:
Mobile clinic and PCR testing
using the ambulance
The ambulance used for the mobile services was donated to AMDA Indonesia in 2008 which was realized through AMDA’s collaboration with Okayama University in Japan. The following is a comment from former Okayama University dean Dr. Kyozo Chiba who was involved in the process.
Dr. Kyozo Chiba
“Serving as Okayama University dean at the time, I was deeply moved by the fact that our school was involved in the unique project of donating an ambulance. This is an empowering report for us today, when humanity needs to collaborate more than ever to win the battle against COVID-19, transcending various boundaries. I would like to pay my highest respect to AMDA for its early efforts in such advanced activities.”
Number of beneficiaries:
During the four-month project period, a total of 1,824 people were examined and treated at the said hospital (25 March - 30 July 2020).
