Minister cautions local Red Cross

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi urged the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) on Friday to be more cautious in conducting blood tests so as not to endanger the public health.

"Strict procedures must be practiced on the blood donors as well as blood testing and packaging," he said.

"This is the most effective way to prevent possible blood contamination," Achmad said after a hearing with Commission VII at the House of Representatives and WHO director general Gro Harlem Brundtland here on Friday.

The minister's remark came amid allegations that nine bags of blood supplied by the local office of PMI in Bandung were found to be Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus (HIV) positive when tested by the Bandung Advent Hospital laboratory.

"We have a basic procedure on blood supplies and if the case in Bandung proves to be true, certain legal sanctions can be imposed to the party responsible," Achmad said.

The Director General for Communicable Diseases and Health Environment Umar Fahmi further explained that PMI has denied that the blood was contaminated by HIV.

"But to be sure and to avoid public dispute, we will wait for the official results from Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (in Jakarta) which is conducting another test to verify the results from the Bandung laboratory," Umar said.

Virus

The head of the Advent Hospital laboratory, Jan Kaimana, said on Thursday that after the family of a patient requested an examination of the blood his staff detected the deadly virus using the pesona method, which is more effective than the commonly applied elisa technique.

Umar further explained that the country had a shortage of reagents, a medium needed to test blood samples.

"We only have 500,000 reagents while the country actually needs some 900,000 reagents per year. To be honest we don't have the budget. So far we have received help on reagent supplies from donor countries such as Australia, United States and Germany," Umar said.(edt)