Jakarta – The city's hospitals are struggling to admit new patients and are having a hard time treating existing ones because a collapsed dike has caused a shortage in clean water supplies.

Some hospitals are resorting to using their own water-recycling and treatment facilities or artesian wells, while others have had to call in water tanks from water companies. But these supplies are not enough for an entire hospital.

The city's largest hospital, Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, is one of the most severely affected. It had to temporarily close its clinic services for new patients.

Hospital official Akor Tarigan said suppliers could not meet the hospital's daily water demand of 2,000 cubic metres. It received only 400 cubic metres of water per day, he said.

Supplies from the city's two tapwater companies, TPJ and PT Pam Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja), to customers in East, North and Central Jakarta have been disrupted with the recent collapse of the West Tarum dike in Kali Malang, East Jakarta. It would take an estimated two weeks before supplies return to normal.