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)