Blood of donors vital to Indonesian Red Cross
Blood of donors vital to Indonesian Red Cross
By Hera Diani
JAKARTA (JP): Do not assume that demonstrations, brawls or
even a recent Muslim mass prayer have nothing to do with blood
supplies in the capital. They do.
Any large event that people fear could lead to violence makes
donors reluctant to go out and give away their blood.
Hospitals then run low on blood and patients in need of
transfusions face longer waits.
"If that happens, we have to find donors who are willing to
give blood," Sukantini, the head of the blood transfusion unit at
the Jakarta office of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), told The
Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Sukantini, or Tini, said donors were also hard to find during
the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan.
"Other than those times, we usually have an adequate supply of
blood," she said in her office in Kramat Raya, Central Jakarta.
Each year, Tini said, PMI distributes some 300,000 to 360,000
bags of blood to hospitals in Jakarta, or almost 1,000 bags
daily. Each bag holds about 100 cubic centimeters of blood.
This blood is, of course, obtained from donors, of which there
were 200,752 last year. Of this number, 87 percent are permanent
donors.
"The number of donors, thankfully, increases every year," Tini
said.
For one bag of blood, patients at general hospitals pay Rp
41,000 (US$3.72) while in private hospitals the cost is Rp
123,000.
"We only receive a small percentage of this money, we call it
a service cost," Tini said, declining to state just what this
percentage was.
These service costs make up some 91 percent of the unit's
operational costs, which last year reached Rp 26.5 billion ($2.4
million). The rest comes from fund-raising.
"But we are still running out of funds. We only have half of
the equipment we actually need. As a result, our speed in
processing the blood is still low. We also still lack human
resources," Tini said.
The delay in getting the blood to the hospitals has been the
source of numerous complaints from people in need of
transfusions, like Yadi Nuryadi who has to wait in line for about
four hours every time his son needs a transfusion.
Yadi's nine-month-old son suffers from Thalassemia, an
inherited hemoglobin deficiency of the red blood cells.
Children affected by the disease cannot create healthy red
blood cells naturally so they need to receive periodic blood
transfusions to replace the old red blood cells.
"My son must have a blood transfusion at least once a month.
We usually get it at the nearby Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital. But today the hospital ran out of Type A blood so we
came here to PMI," he told the Post on Wednesday.
"But we have to wait up to four hours to get the blood. It can
even take as long as 12 hours if we bring our own donor, like my
brother did several months ago," he said.
Sterile
While the number of donors at the Indonesian Red Cross
increases every year, many people still shy away from donating
blood at PMI.
"I would rather donate blood when my company, or any other
reputable company, is conducting a blood drive. I am afraid the
needles used by PMI are unsterile," said Anton, an employee at a
private company.
According to Tini, such suspicions are baseless as every
institution that conducts a blood drive gets the needles from
PMI, which always ensures the needles are sterile.
"Maybe there is a lack of information among the people.
Sometimes you get a bruise after giving blood, but that's only
because the person taking the blood has a hard time finding a
vein," she said.
While this should not happen, she said, it is not dangerous.
But these worries do not keep some 250 to 300 donors from
donating their blood every day at PMI's office, which is open 24
hours a day.
When the Post visited the office on Wednesday, more than 10
people were lying on beds as Red Cross employees took their
blood, while several others sat outside waiting their turn.
Most of them have donated blood before, like Sugriwo, 45, who
travels from Cikarang, Bekasi, every three months to give blood.
"I have been doing this since the 1980s. I have donated blood
at least 85 times now and I feel more healthy," he said, adding
that he just wanted to help other people.
By Hera Diani
JAKARTA (JP): Do not assume that demonstrations, brawls or
even a recent Muslim mass prayer have nothing to do with blood
supplies in the capital. They do.
Any large event that people fear could lead to violence makes
donors reluctant to go out and give away their blood.
Hospitals then run low on blood and patients in need of
transfusions face longer waits.
"If that happens, we have to find donors who are willing to
give blood," Sukantini, the head of the blood transfusion unit at
the Jakarta office of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), told The
Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Sukantini, or Tini, said donors were also hard to find during
the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan.
"Other than those times, we usually have an adequate supply of
blood," she said in her office in Kramat Raya, Central Jakarta.
Each year, Tini said, PMI distributes some 300,000 to 360,000
bags of blood to hospitals in Jakarta, or almost 1,000 bags
daily. Each bag holds about 100 cubic centimeters of blood.
This blood is, of course, obtained from donors, of which there
were 200,752 last year. Of this number, 87 percent are permanent
donors.
"The number of donors, thankfully, increases every year," Tini
said.
For one bag of blood, patients at general hospitals pay Rp
41,000 (US$3.72) while in private hospitals the cost is Rp
123,000.
"We only receive a small percentage of this money, we call it
a service cost," Tini said, declining to state just what this
percentage was.
These service costs make up some 91 percent of the unit's
operational costs, which last year reached Rp 26.5 billion ($2.4
million). The rest comes from fund-raising.
"But we are still running out of funds. We only have half of
the equipment we actually need. As a result, our speed in
processing the blood is still low. We also still lack human
resources," Tini said.
The delay in getting the blood to the hospitals has been the
source of numerous complaints from people in need of
transfusions, like Yadi Nuryadi who has to wait in line for about
four hours every time his son needs a transfusion.
Yadi's nine-month-old son suffers from Thalassemia, an
inherited hemoglobin deficiency of the red blood cells.
Children affected by the disease cannot create healthy red
blood cells naturally so they need to receive periodic blood
transfusions to replace the old red blood cells.
"My son must have a blood transfusion at least once a month.
We usually get it at the nearby Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital. But today the hospital ran out of Type A blood so we
came here to PMI," he told the Post on Wednesday.
"But we have to wait up to four hours to get the blood. It can
even take as long as 12 hours if we bring our own donor, like my
brother did several months ago," he said.
Sterile
While the number of donors at the Indonesian Red Cross
increases every year, many people still shy away from donating
blood at PMI.
"I would rather donate blood when my company, or any other
reputable company, is conducting a blood drive. I am afraid the
needles used by PMI are unsterile," said Anton, an employee at a
private company.
According to Tini, such suspicions are baseless as every
institution that conducts a blood drive gets the needles from
PMI, which always ensures the needles are sterile.
"Maybe there is a lack of information among the people.
Sometimes you get a bruise after giving blood, but that's only
because the person taking the blood has a hard time finding a
vein," she said.
While this should not happen, she said, it is not dangerous.
But these worries do not keep some 250 to 300 donors from
donating their blood every day at PMI's office, which is open 24
hours a day.
When the Post visited the office on Wednesday, more than 10
people were lying on beds as Red Cross employees took their
blood, while several others sat outside waiting their turn.
Most of them have donated blood before, like Sugriwo, 45, who
travels from Cikarang, Bekasi, every three months to give blood.
"I have been doing this since the 1980s. I have donated blood
at least 85 times now and I feel more healthy," he said, adding
that he just wanted to help other people.