Jakarta needs negative type blood donors<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Chapter of the Indonesian Red Cross
\n(PMI DKI) has said it is having difficulty meeting the increasing
\ndemands for B negative blood due to a lack of donors.<\/p>\n
\"There are only 53 negative rhesus blood donors in the city,\"
\nsaid Suhantini, the head of blood transfusions unit of PMI DKI.<\/p>\n
\"With the small number of donors, it is difficult to meet the
\ndemand. We get the blood from the same people while the number of
\npeople who need this particular type of blood is always on the
\nrise,\" Suhantini told The Jakarta Post yesterday, adding that
\nthere were an average of eight to 10 patients asking for negative
\nblood monthly.<\/p>\n
Suhantini was responding to a recent advertisement in the Post
\nplaced by a person named Lili, a resident of West Jakarta, who
\nneeded B negative rhesus blood. Lili needed the blood for her 60-
\nyear-old mother who was being treated at the Jakarta's Graha
\nMedika hospital for colon cancer.<\/p>\n
The 53 donors, according to Suhantini, are Indonesians and
\nsome Indians living in Jakarta. They consisted of 17 donors for A
\nnegative rhesus blood type, 18 for B negative, four for AB
\nnegative and 14 for O negative.<\/p>\n
Besides the 53 donors, a number of expatriates living in the
\ncity who are grouped in the Expatriate Emergency Blood Donor
\nCommittee (EEBDC) are also regular donors for the red cross.<\/p>\n
\"Usually if we need blood of a negative type we contact them
\nsince the percentage of Caucasians with negative blood is higher
\nthan that of Indonesians,\" Suhantini explained.<\/p>\n
She added that only 0.02 percent of the Indonesian population
\nhas a negative blood type, while that of the Caucasian reaches 15
\npercent.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Lili told the Post that, as of Thursday, she had
\nreceived the needed blood from two Indonesians and seven
\nforeigners -- Caucasians and Indians. She had also received some
\nbags of B negative type blood from PMI DKI.<\/p>\n
But she said that her mother still needed a lot of blood
\nbecause of her reduced thrombocyte level.<\/p>\n
Dutch Red Cross<\/p>\n
\"Doctors have said that normal thrombocyte level is around
\n150,000 to 450,000 per cubic centimeter (cc), but my mother's
\nthrombocyte level is only around 20,000 cc, therefore she needs
\nat least 20 donors,\" Lili said.<\/p>\n
Suhantini said she had contacted the Netherlands Red Cross,
\nbut they were facing a shortage of negative blood at present. She
\nadded that another possibility for obtaining more thrombocytes
\nfor Lili's mother was by using an automatic machine.<\/p>\n
But she added that the process was quite expensive.<\/p>\n
\"We prefer to wait for new donors before we resort to this
\nchoice,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Suhantini added that, in general, the Jakarta Red Cross is
\nstill short of blood stock.<\/p>\n
\"As of today (yesterday) we have only 1,043 bags of blood. It
\nmeans we are still not safe because our security level is above
\n2,000 bags,\" she said, urging people to become blood donors.(als)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jakarta-needs-negative-type-blood-donors-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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