Behind the Hazmat Suit

Sunday, December 27, 2020

Within the walls of Covid-19 referral hospitals, hundreds of thousands of nurses take care of patients and assist doctors in treating those stricken by the pneumonia-inducing virus. They work for eight to 12 hours every day in their uncomfortably stuffy hazardous materials (hazmat) suit, leaving families behind and facing risk of deadly infection. Until December 23, 4,294 nurses have tested positive for the coronavirus, 159 of them did not survive. The Indonesian Nurses Association said the profession is yet to receive the proper recognition it deserves.

Medical workers perform a swab test on a patient’s family member at the Tarakan General Hospital, Notrh Kalimantan, in April. ANTARA/Fachrurrozi. tempo : 173054975558.

RAHMAT Nuzuli Prayogo was on the other end of the telephone, his voice stuttered. “Today at 12:15pm, we grieved once more,” said this volunteer nurse in the Sulianti Saroso Infectious Diseases Hospital (RSPI), North Jakarta, on Monday, December 21. He went quiet for about five seconds. Then, between his gasping breath, he continued, “A doctor, a nurse, and a technician have contracted Covid-19.”

Gogo—as Rahmat Nuzul

...