Just pricing urged for intravenous plasma
JAKARTA (JP): The City Council appealed to hospitals and pharmaceutical companies yesterday to keep the price of intravenous plasma at an affordable level amid worries about the continuing dengue fever epidemic.
Soeparmo, head of Commission E for social welfare, urged hospitals and pharmaceutical firms not to seek too much profit in time of economic crisis when most people's income was barely enough to buy basic essentials.
"We know that they have the right to make a profit. But please don't make too much profit, especially during this time of crisis when people are in economic trouble," he said.
He said the Ministry of Health had set standard prices for intravenous plasma and that pharmaceutical companies and hospitals should comply with these.
Intravenous plasma most commonly used on dengue patients in the city is called RL, or Ringer Lactat. It is available only in certain pharmacies.
These will prioritize the hospitals they are associated with. Saint Carolus Hospital's pharmacy sells a 500cc bottle of RL plasma for Rp 5,700 (71 U.S. cents) and the Indonesian Christian University for Rp 5,900.
An attendant at the Pelni Hospital's pharmacy said patients from other hospitals could buy less than 10 bottles of plasma for Rp 4,600 each. An employee at the Fatmawati Hospital's pharmacy said they had plenty of plasma available for patients from other hospitals at Rp 6,500 a bottle.
According to a doctor at the Fatmawati hospital's center for dengue fever control, RL plasma is the first treatment to be given to the dengue fever patients on their arrival at the hospital.
"A patient's demand for intravenous liquid varies depending on the stage of the illness. A critical patient who spends a long time in hospital could need up to 40 packs," the doctor, who asked for anonymity, told The Jakarta Post.
She said the next step after receiving the plasma was to check on the thrombosis level in the patient's blood before deciding how large a blood transfusion the patient would need.
A staffer at the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Red Cross said yesterday the office was overwhelmed by people seeking blood for relatives suffering from dengue fever.
The employee, who asked not to be named, said that many people were not aware that dengue fever sufferers needed only fresh plasma, not regular blood.
"We could take around 30cc of plasma from 100cc of fresh blood. It takes up to 10 hours to process until the plasma is ready to be used," he said. Plasma must be used no later than six hours after being processed, he added.
Each bag containing about 300cc of blood costs Rp 52,000 in service fees, the official said.
As of yesterday, the death toll in this year's dengue fever outbreak in Jakarta was 43 with another 4,300 hospitalized, according to Hadi M. Abednego, the director general for the control of communicable diseases.
In Tangerang, the death toll is 13 and 387 people have been hospitalized.
Here poor people can get free treatment in the hospital provided they have a letter of recommendation issued by their neighborhood chief.
Data from the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta shows that 428 dengue patients were treated in the intensive care unit from April 1 to April 19. (41/ivy/cst)