Without ICUs, doctor in Jakarta hospital battles to help COVID-19 patients

JAKARTA: Indonesian doctor Cheras Sjarfi says the small public hospital where she works in south Jakarta was not ready for the influx of COVID-19 patients who arrived after a surge of new infections in the world's fourth-most-populous country.

Only equipped for basic health care, her facility has had to treat COVID-19 patients even though it lacks the life-saving ventilators and intensive care units they sometimes require. "We weren't prepared for this situation," she said, adding that the situation at smaller hospitals like hers showed how severe things had become.