Medan Red Cross faces critical blood shortage
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
Veronika left the Indonesian Red Cross office in Medan where she had hoped to get blood looking dejected. She badly needed blood for her sick husband, but the Red Cross had run out.
"My husband is having dialysis, he badly needs blood. I tried several hospitals but they have also run out. I thought the Red Cross might have a sufficient supply, but I was wrong," said Veronika before rushing off to continue her search.
Head of the Red Cross blood transfusion unit lab, Muzahar, confirmed that it often ran out of blood due to the huge demand, mainly from hospitals for surgery and from residents with sick family members.
Even when the tsunami and earthquake rocked the west coast of Sumatra, the Red Cross was unable to meet the increasing demand for blood to help the victims.
Muzahar said that the daily demand for blood from hospitals and individuals was around 100 bags. Each bag contains 250 cc of blood, while each day the Red Cross only gets around 40 bags from donors.
"So we do not have enough blood. The number of people who want blood is higher than those donating it. What can we say, the number of blood donors is very small here although the city is home to more than two million people," Muzahar told The Jakarta Post.
That particular day, the Red Cross only listed one person, Second Corporal Fatardo Nasution, who donated his A-type blood. Muzahar said that Fatardo was a regular donor.
According to the 34-year-old Fatardo, he has donated his blood 45 times since he became a soldier in Bukit Barisan Military Command in 1989. For his good deed, he never asked for a single rupiah.
He said he had not experienced any health problems after regularly donating blood, rather he was much healthier.
"I donate my blood regularly every three months. Although I donate my blood, I never feel weak and my health is good," said the father of four.
He said he did this of his own volition, after learning that many sick people were in need of blood.
Muzahar said anytime a donor donated his or her blood to the Red Cross, the blood would be sterilized for four hours at the lab before it could be given to the needy.
"We cannot guarantee that all the blood we receive from donors is free from disease so we have to sterilize it to ensure it will not endanger the receivers," said Muzahar, a clinical pathologist from North Sumatra University who has been working at the Red Cross for three years.
He said that due to the cost of sterilizing, storing and preparing the blood the Red Cross charged those in need of blood.
Based on the rate set by the North Sumatra Health Office, the Red Cross charges Rp 120,000 (US$13) for each component, including blood and fresh frozen plasma.
The money raised is used to pay the employees, he said.
"We have to use the money raised to pay the Red Cross employees because we are not financed by the health office. If no money is raised because there's no blood supply, we don't get paid either," said Muzahar.