Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Task Force for Acceleration of COVID-19 Handling is falling short of medical volunteers, according to the task force's Volunteer Team Coordinator, Andre Rahardian.

"Since we opened the registration process four weeks ago, a total of 28,900 people have registered, of which 5,500 are medical volunteers, while the rest are non-medical ones," Rahardian stated at the task force's press conference in Jakarta, Wednesday.

Rahardian noted that the volunteers, who had registered, came from various regions in Indonesia and not solely from Jakarta.

According to Rahardian, most of those who registered had signed up to be non-medical volunteers tasked with logistics and general administration pertaining to aid distribution.

However, he pointed out that the volunteer team was currently in need of more medical volunteers since the 5,500 people, who had registered, are not all ready to be placed on duty at health facilities treating COVID-19 cases, including the Athlete's Village Emergency Hospital.

"More medical personnel are needed in the wake of the pandemic. Of the 5,500 people that have already registered, 2,500 to 3,000 volunteers should be ready to be placed on duty after we complete the selection process," Rahardian revealed.

He expounded that volunteers ready to be placed on duty are the ones having met requirements, including possessing a registered certificate, a letter of consent from the family, as well as the results of a medical examination.

EDITED BY INE