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Ground down by almost two years of overtime, low pay and discrimination, health workers throughout Southeast Asia are reaching the breaking point.  © Reuters

Seen and not heard: health workers in Asia bullied into silence

Brutal hours, poor conditions, low pay -- from Indonesia to the Philippines, the region's carers have learned to keep quiet

JAKARTA -- Fentia Budiman had just woken up from two-hours of sleep following an overnight shift at Indonesia's largest COVID-19 isolation center in Jakarta. She and another nurse tended 60 to 70 patients on one of the hospital's floors, grabbing sleep whenever she could in between shifts. 

When she checked her phone, Fen, as she prefers to be called, was greeted by dozens of missed calls, and several messages summoning her to a meeting room in the Athletes' Village, a sprawling apartment complex built to host athletes during the 2018 Asian Games. Since March 2020 it has been a massive COVID-19 ward for patients with mild to moderate symptoms.

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