[ad_1]
Medan, Indonesia – Satria Krisnaditya Permana was busy preparing for the birth of her first son when she approached COVID-19 with her family.
Satria and his 24-year-old Sari Azalea wife Yuliani, who was expecting a 37-week pregnancy and a baby girl, tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago, shortly after Sari’s father confirmed the virus.
At first, everything seemed fine.
The couple, who regularly spent time with Sari’s father, decided to isolate themselves in Bekasi, a satellite town on the outskirts of Jakarta, where they had everything at hand.
Two days later, Sari had a high fever.
Satria said she began to “get into and out of consciousness” and a doctor told them the baby was in distress. He was admitted to the Esnawan Antariksa Air Force Hospital in Jakarta.
“It was utter chaos,” Satria said. “People were everywhere.”
Hospitals across Indonesia have been on the verge of collapsing in recent weeks, with all cases in the country reaching more than two million cases, amid a second wave of infections caused by a holiday trip to Eid al-Fitri in May. The advent of the more aggressive Delta variant.
On Tuesday, more than 30,000 new cases were reported while more than 700 people were killed. There are now more than 60,000 deaths in Indonesia, and there is growing concern not only about pregnant women but also about the impact on babies and infants.
Satria calmed down when his wife got a room in an air force hospital, but by June 30 the oxygen level had dropped to 85% and doctors had decided to perform an emergency caesarean section.
To protect against COVID-19, Sari’s daughter fell as soon as she was born and Kirana Azalea was placed in a small Permana incubator.
Satria was still isolated at home as she was unable to attend the birth. Two days later, after Friday prayers, the Muslim god received a phone call from the hospital.
“Keep praying, your wife is in a serious condition and in the ventilator,” a nurse told him. Hours later, Sari was found dead and hastily buried in Rorotan Jakarta Cemetery COVID-19 in accordance with coronavirus protocols.
“My wife never saw her baby properly,” Satria said. “She couldn’t breastfeed like she wanted to. It was heartbreaking. “
Satria didn’t even have time to mourn Sari’s death.
The Kirana baby had complications at birth and had to be admitted to a neonatal ICU for further treatment. But all the NICUs in and around Jakarta were full. Satria’s parents desperately tried to find hospitals in Jakarta and nearby cities before eventually finding two hospitals that would take Kirana, Bandung and Cirebon.
On July 2, Kirana was taken by ambulance to Bandung – the nearest hospital but about two hours away.
Tragically, he died the next morning.
As the child was found to be negative by the coronavirus, the family gave him permission to bury him in Bekas near the family home.
“We tried so hard to save my daughter, but maybe it was too late,” Satria said. “He lasted three days in this cruel world. Now, they’re both in heaven together. “
Lots of strangers
According to data provided by the Indonesian Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology (POGI), more than 500 pregnant women have tested positive for coronavirus since the Indonesian pandemic began, with 4.5% requiring treatment in intensive care.
About 3 percent died as a result of the disease.
The baby Kirana was born by emergency caesarean section and did not test positive for COVID, but died in intensive care on July 3 [Courtesy of Satria Krisnaditya Permana ]
Dr. Wahyudi Gani, a gynecologist and obstetrician at Stella Maris Hospital in the North Sumatra city of Medan, says it is still unknown how COVID-19 affects mothers and babies.
“In general, the coronavirus is no more dangerous for pregnant mothers, but it is still not well understood in terms of its impact on her fetus, both in the short and long term,” she told Al Jazeera.
Today’s recommendation from POGI is that coronavirus vaccines are safe for women over 12 weeks pregnant, but the government has not yet given women a massive vaccination for hope, according to Dr. Wahyudi.
As a result, Sari was not vaccinated for COVID-19, nor was 42-year-old Rohmanita, who died in Medan on June 27.
Rohmanita and her husband Ricky Hidayat had been looking for a baby for five years, and Rohmanita was pregnant with the couple’s first son when she began to feel unwell for 38 weeks.
“He fell ill on June 24 and tested positive for coronavirus two days later. He died the next day at dusk,” Ricky told Al Jazeera.
“He was very fast. We were isolated at home because she was pregnant. He was 10 days away, so we didn’t want to go to the hospital. I took care of him four days before he died. “
Ricky Hidayat sees Rohmanita’s burial from a bluff above Medango’s Simalingkar B cemetery. [Aisyah Llewellyn/AL Jazeera]
Rohmanita was buried with a child born according to COVID-19 protocols while her husband watched from a distance [Aisyah Llewellyn/AL Jazeera]
Rohmanita, a housewife, was buried according to coronavirus protocols along with a child born in a special COVID-19 cemetery in Medan. Health rules meant Ricky could not go to the grave. Instead, he saw from a bluff facing the grave that the coffin was falling to the ground.
According to Abdi’s grave attorney, there are at least three other babies buried in the cemetery, a one-day-old, one-month-old and three-month-old baby.
“Since the start of the pandemic, 14 children have died from coronary heart disease in Medan, according to our records, less than a month and 15 years old,” said Dr. Inke Nadia D Lubis, a pediatrician with COVID-19 role in North Sumatra. said the force to Al Jazeera.
“Some of them did not have any prior health conditions and others had health problems. Even children under the age of course are, of course, at a much higher risk if they become infected with the virus.”
Higher risk
According to data from the Pediatric Society of Indonesia (IDAI), infections in children across Indonesia are growing at a higher rate than adults, perhaps because more children have been tested in recent months.
IDAI also found that positive cases of COVID-19 had risen to 12.6 per cent among children aged 0-18 (or one in eight infected people) since June 28, when the infant mortality rate was 0.6 per cent among one-year-olds. between five and 0.6% of children between the ages of six and 18, Dr. Cynthia Centauri, a pediatrician at Depok University’s University Hospital (RSUI) on the outside of Knowledge, told Al Jazeera.
COVID-19 cases continue to grow weekly among adolescents and children under 18 years of age.
From June 28 to July 4, more than 11,000 children under the age of 18 tested positive for COVID-19 with IDAI data with more than 7,000 last week.
In Medan, Simalingkar B cemetery, some babies are buried, aged 3 months and 6 months [Aisyah Llewellyn/Al Jazeera]
“At RSUI itself, the number of visits to hospitals and outpatient clinics has increased. The number of outpatients at the COVID-19 polyclinic has at least doubled in recent weeks and we are seeing patients with more severe symptoms than before, ”said Dr. Cynthia.
He added that the symptoms of coronavirus in children appear to be different from those in adults.
According to him, children with coronavirus do not only show respiratory diseases such as cough, runny nose or shortness of breath, but can also cause gastrointestinal upset, such as vomiting or diarrhea or a rash on the body.
Of the 2.3 million cases reported in Indonesia, more than 200,000 were under the age of 18 in 30% of cases of children born in a pandemic. To date, more than 600 children have died from COVID-19 across Indonesia.
“We want to cry. Whose children are dying? Indonesian children. Our children and grandchildren, why do we live if not in the case of our children and grandchildren? “Dr. Aman Pulungan, the head of IDAI, said on Monday.
In late June, IDAI issued an official set of recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines for children and adolescents, advising the government to accelerate the vaccination program for children.
Right now, the Indonesian government has approved a vaccine for children and adolescents aged 12-17 years, with the decision to give COVID-19 vaccines to children aged three to 11 years pending the outcome of further clinical trials.
“Children are welcome to receive COVID-19 vaccines,” Dr. Cynthia said. “We hope there will be no more hesitation, especially for parents to vaccinate their children. With this vaccine recommendation, COVID-19 vaccine vaccination coverage is expected to continue to increase, reducing the rate of COVID-19 infection, morbidity, and death throughout the archipelago. “
Indonesia has approved vaccines for children 12 years of age and older. and doctors are urging parents to get their children vaccinated because of the increase in cases [File: Made Nagi/EPA]
At the Medan cemetery, Ricky told Al Jazeera that he also hopes people will start taking the pandemic more seriously. “People say there is no coronavirus. But there is a coronavirus. I saw it with my own eyes, ”he said.
On the scholarship, Satria agreed.
“I am clear that the government was not ready for this second wave,” he said. “I hope to have a greater awareness. This is very real. Some people think this is all a conspiracy, but I can say that COVID-19 also took away the love of my life and my daughter. ”
Satria, who sells living computer parts, said it was his wife’s dream for him to open his own small shop one day.
“So now I’m going to pursue that dream. I still talk to her and tell her that she will be my eternal wife and that I will be proud of her, “she said.” She held him as long as she could, and I know she and my two daughters are smiling at me from heaven now. “
“She would be such a good mother.”
[ad_2]
Source link
