Minister cautions local Red Cross

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)