- Title: Death of Indonesian doctor exposes heartbreaking COVID-19 realities
- Date: 10th April 2020
- Summary: WIDYAWATI SHOWING PICTURE OF PURWARINI ON HER PHONE
- Embargoed: 24th April 2020 07:56
- Keywords: COVID-19 Indonesia coronavirus doctor health parents
- Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
- City: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA008C8WPI6F
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Outside his Jakarta home, ringed by various wreath displays, a tearful Bambang Purnomo clutches a framed photograph of his daughter, smiling during much happier times.
Doctor Ratih Purwarini is one of 26 Indonesian doctors killed by COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, according to the Indonesian medical association.
"I'm so proud that my daughter is a doctor, she was very humble and helpful," the 72-year-old Purnomo told Reuters emotionally. "The whole family and I are still mourning for our loss, because it is something that cannot be compensated with money."
The first doctor in her family, Purwarini was head of human resources at a North Jakarta hospital, but when the outbreak hit, she also started treating patients.
In her spare time, she volunteered with victims of domestic violence, and like many in Indonesia's poorly funded healthcare system, also ran a private practice on the side.
Purnomo, a retired civil servant, said Purwarini first went to a hospital close to her home after a worrying x-ray result. Although she was initially told to go home as she showed no symptoms, she insisted on being hospitalised and was eventually warded.
On the same weekend, the family was informed by the hospital that they did not have a ventilator available to treat Purwarini. The hospital has been unavailable to comment on Purwarini's case.
Purwarini succumbed to the illness after she was transferred to another hospital on March 31. She was 46 years old and a mother of two.
Indonesia's health ministry and coronavirus taskforce have declined to comment on the death of the doctors.
In Indonesia, a sprawling developing nation of 260 million people, the high mortality rate among doctors has heightened anxiety about a healthcare system ill-prepared for a pandemic.
A month after recording its first case, Indonesia has the highest coronavirus death toll in Asia after China, with 3,293 confirmed cases and 280 deaths, although health experts fear it could be much higher.
(Production: Yuddy Cahya Budiman, Angie Teo) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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