Dengue outbreak bites into city's blood supply
Dengue outbreak bites into city's blood supply
JAKARTA (JP): The dengue fever outbreak has triggered a blood
crisis for the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI)
due to escalating demand.
Dozens of patients' relatives have been forced to spend more
than a day waiting in the understaffed PMI office in Central
Jakarta for fresh blood, where supplies have been reported to be
"very low".
PMI chairwoman Uga Wiranto said yesterday that the office's
four blood processing machines and its 160 employees had to work
long hours to meet the increasing demand.
"We need at least 30 more employees and eight more blood
processing machines to meet the unusually high demand," she told
reporters.
"We know it is unpleasant for people to queue hours for blood,
but we are trying not to disappoint them by working around the
clock," she added.
As of Tuesday, the number of dengue fever patients treated in
various hospitals across the city totaled 4,980 and at least 50
have died, according to official figures.
Uga said that in Jakarta, demand for fresh blood had sharply
increased to 512 units a day in the first half of this month from
about 300 units per day last month.
"To meet the demand, the machines should be run 24 hours a
day. If we had 12 machines, 500 units of blood could be processed
in about six hours," she said.
A unit contains 250 cubic centimeters (cc) of blood.
She said that each machine could process only six units per
hour, while the process of checking for possible viruses or blood
contamination took another 10 hours.
Blood demand totaled 187,579 units last year. Officials
project that figure to increase to about 190,000 units for 1998.
Some people came to the PMI office to donate blood to be used
for their sick relatives.
Martha, an East Jakarta woman who meant to donate her blood
for her relative being treated for dengue fever, said her sick
sister-in-law needed 20 units of blood.
"But after waiting for 14 hours, I got only four bags," she
said.
She said her sister's platelets had decreased to about 30,000
and that normally they should be between 150,000 and 300,000.
"I'm worried that she will die if I don't get enough blood for
her," she said.
Tanto, from Semper in North Jakarta, said he needed five units
of blood but had not obtained any after waiting for hours.
The chief of the Indonesian Red Cross, Siti Hardijanti
Rukmana, called on the public yesterday to donate blood to save
the lives of thousands of people suffering from dengue fever.
Hardijanti, who is also the Minister of Social Affairs, said
the ministry would provide funds to overcome the blood crisis and
the dengue epidemic.
"The blood supply in the Jakarta PMI branch office is very low
due to the rising demand. The office is crowded with people
seeking blood."
The chairman of the City Health Office, Aslan Lasman, said
that his agency was preparing 43 public health centers to
accommodate dengue patients.
"These preparations are being taken in anticipation of the
height of the dengue outbreak believed to come in May," he said.
In Yogyakarta, the local office of the Ministry of Health
stated that as of Monday, the death toll there for dengue fever
had reached 42 with the number of people hospitalized at 1,187.
A spokesman for the office, Budwi Wipriyadi, said that last
year's number of people hospitalized with the disease totaled
1,190 with 42 fatalities.
Budwi said the administration had carried out mass fumigation
efforts in 92 affected villages.
To anticipate the May to June peak of the dengue outbreak,
Sardjito General Hospital has prepared 200 rooms for dengue
sufferers.
The hospital's director, Achmad Sujudi, said 100 nurses had
been trained to handle dengue fever patients.
"If more beds are needed, we'll ask the Armed Forces for
help," he said.
West Java health officials reported in Bandung yesterday that
the death toll there had reached 43 and that 10,229 people had
been hospitalized. (ind/23/43)