Indonesian Mother With Coronavirus Gives Birth to Healthy Baby at Siloam Hospital
Jakarta. A mother who has tested positive for coronavirus gave birth to a baby boy at Siloam Hospital in Lubuklinggau, South Sumatra, on Saturday, after being turned down by several other hospitals she was admitted to.
The baby is healthy and has tested negative for the virus, the hospital said in a statement on Sunday. Identities of the patients were not disclosed.
“The baby has tested negative for coronavirus. Both the mother and the baby are in good conditions. This good news comes as fresh encouragement to all of us in this difficult time,” the hospital said.
Prana Putra Sohe, head of Lubuklinggau Covid-19 Task Force, confirmed the report.
“The mother has undergone a rapid test prior to the admission and the result came back positive. She was in self-imposed quarantine [before the delivery],” he said.
Standoff in Palembang
In another part of the province, however, things were more complicated as a number of Siloam nurses were denied entry to their boarding house for coornavirus fears.
Siloam Hospital in the provincial capital of Palembang, around 310 kilometers from Lubuklinggau, said five nurses were not allowed to return home upon report that their colleague has contracted the disease.
The hospital confirmed that a nurse who used to live at the same boarding house has contracted the virus.
But the nurse has been staying at the hospital dormitory since the first time she was assigned to provide nursing care for Covid-19 patients, Siloam Hospital Palembang director Bona Fernando said.
Five other nurses who remained at the boarding house work at the maternity unit and don’t have the virus, he said.
“They were given two choices: to remain at the boarding house and halt their works, or continue working but they must not return to the house. The nurses were basically told with understatement that they must leave the boarding house,” Bona said in Palembang on Saturday.
“In our internal ruling, nurses who handle Covid-19 patients must stay at the hospital [dormitory] and they cannot go home. We have explained that other nurses who stay at the boarding house have had no contacts with Covid-19 patients but the neighborhood stayed firm with their stance while on the other hand our nurses must continue working,” Bona said.
To end the standoff, the five nurses were told to stay at the hospital dormitory until they can find a shelter.
Siloam Group has recently announced their participation in the government’s Covid-19 mitigation measures involving all 39 Siloam hospitals across the country.
The group has also opened two makeshift hospitals designated for Covid-19 patients in Tangerang, Banten, and South Jakarta with a combined capacity of around 650 beds.
In the weekend, Siloam launched three drive-through rapid screening sites for Covid-19 in Jakarta and Bekasi.