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MINISTER of Tourism and Creative Economy, Wishnutama Kusubandio formally handed over the use of accommodation (hotel) and transportation facilities to the COVID-19 Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling National Disaster Management Agency which will be used for medical personnel who are at the forefront in handling the COVID-19 outbreak. .
Tourism & Creative Economy Ministry has previously collaborated with Accor Group to provide a place of rest for medical personnel and Task Forces, as well as with Bluebird, Panorama, Antavaya and Whitehorse to provide transportation facilities for medical personnel and Task Forces.
The technical use of accommodation and transportation for medical personnel will be under the coordination of the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 National Disaster Management Agency.
“The collaboration with the hotel chain is to become a temporary accommodation facility for medical personnel and task forces in various regions,” said Wishnutama Kusubandio during a press conference on hotel to support the COVID-19 Task Force at National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Building, Saturday 3/28/2020), in Jakarta.
Wishnutama explained that the hotel chain used to stay for medical personnel and task forces was intended to make them closer to the hospital that handled COVID-19. In the initial stage, Tourism Ministry & Creative Economy together with Accor Group provided 615 rooms tailored to the needs of 4 COVID-19 referral hospitals in Jakarta, namely RSCM, RSPAD, RS Sulianti Saroso and RS Pers Friendship Hospital
“With the number of rooms it can cover 1,100 medical personnel with a twin and single room mix scheme,” Wishnutama said.
In this collaboration the hotel will follow the Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) relating to guest services as determined by the Ministry of Health related to handling COVID-19. Among the routine disinfectant spraying especially at hotel entrances, sanitation activities, physical distancing arrangements in all areas of the hotel including the use of elevators, minimizing direct service interactions and other measures recommended by the Ministry of Health.
All medical staff who stay overnight and hotel employees will go through several stages of anticipation such as body temperature checks, disinfectant gates, and the use of personal protective equipment as a mandatory protocol in anticipating COVID-19 transmission.
The hotel must also carry out special SOPs in carrying out their daily tasks both in departments that meet directly or indirectly with all medical personnel, for example SOPs in housekeeping from sanitary procedures, frequency of cleaning, to the provision of extra amenities.
Wishnutama said, going forward t=Tourism & Creative Economy Ministry/ Tourism Creative Economy Agency also open cooperation with other hotels, of course, with procedures and requirements that must be met. Among them the hotel is in the vicinity of the Referral Hospital as well as the hotel does not terminate the Employee Relations of employees related to the COVID-19 pandemic situation is still ongoing.
Wishnutama said that cooperation from various parties was in line with Presidential Instruction (Inpres) No. 4 of 2020 concerning refocusing activities, budget reallocation, and procurement of goods and services to accelerate the handling of COVID-19.
“The President has stressed that the government is paying very much attention to the tourism sector as one of the leading sectors of the national economy, but to deal with the impact of COVID-19, cooperation from various parties is needed,” he said.
This cooperation is not only a joint effort in handling COVID-19, but also maintaining the hospitality and transportation industry which is an important part of the national tourism industry. It is known, the tourism sector is one of those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on data from Indonesia Hotel & Restaurant Association, up to mid-March the hotel occupancy rate in various regions of Indonesia fell by 50% and threatened to continue to fall. [traveltext.id]
