Blood bank free of HIV: Red Cross

Blood bank free of HIV: Red Cross

JAKARTA (JP): A Red Cross official assured the public yesterday that its blood bank's stocks are free from the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and other dangerous diseases.

Secretary-general of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), Susanto Mangoensajito, said that PMI screens all donated blood and distributes only the stock which passes screening.

He said local doctors are assisted by foreign experts in testing the blood. "I guarantee that the Red Cross provides only uncontaminated blood for transfusion," he said.

In April 1992, three Indonesian blood donors were found to be carriers of HIV, the virus which leads to the deadly Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Two of the carriers were Jakartans while the other lived in Bali.

More recently, the head of PMI's Jakarta office, H.M. Muas, announced in September that eight bags of blood in its blood bank were contaminated with HIV.

Muas commented at the time that the number was relatively small compared with the 164,000 bags of blood it accepts from donors each year.

Yesterday, Muas said PMI has been conducting a fund-raising campaign to finance the blood-testing. The campaign began on Sept. 17 and will end today, he said. He said screening one blood bag costs Rp 100,000 (US$45).

PMI opened yesterday the 3rd Asian Red Cross and Red Crescent Task Force eight-day conference, joined by China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myammar, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. (31)