Red Cross swears its blood clinics hygienic

Red Cross swears its blood clinics hygienic

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Chapter of the Indonesian Red Cross
has assured donors, who have recently questioned hygienic
conditions at its blood transfusion units, that it only uses
disposable hypodermic syringes.

"For years we have used only disposable needles, sterilized
blood lancets and pipettes to avoid any contamination," head of
the blood transfusion unit, Sukantini, told The Jakarta Post on
the weekend.

Sukantini was commenting on doubts raised by several
expatriates living in the city who serve as potential donors for
rare negative blood types about the hygienic conditions at the
Red Cross's blood transfusion unit.

The Jakarta Chapter of the Red Cross is having difficulty
meeting the increased demand for negative blood types due to a
lack of donors. There is only 0.02 percent of the Indonesian
population with a negative blood type, while that of Caucasians
reaches 15 percent.

In order to meet the escalating demand, Sukantini urged
expatriates living in Jakarta to donate their blood.

Responding to the appeal, several expats told the Post that
they were actually willing to donate blood, but queried the
hygienic standards at the Red Cross.

"I see no reason for the public to question our hygiene
standard," Sukantini reaffirmed, underlining that all the
medical transfusion assistants working at her office were also
fully aware of the importance of hygiene.

According to Sukantini, her division allocates no less than 45
percent of its annual budget to maintain the blood transfusion
equipment.

"Moreover, we also carefully select all the blood we receive
through a series of tests. And we give only good, healthy blood
to the recipients," Sukantini explained, adding that all foreign
physicians and visitors who had visited her office were impressed
with the facilities and hygiene.

"If we are careless about this kind of thing, why are there a
group of expatriates willing to donate their blood here?" she
asked, referring to the establishment of the Expatriate Emergency
Blood Donor Committee (EEBDC) which functions as a regular,
dependable donor for the particularly rare blood types.

In order to eliminate doubt, especially from potential blood
donors of rare blood types, Sukantini said that they could visit
her transfusion unit themselves during weekday office hours.

The Jakarta Chapter of the Red Cross is located at Jl. Kramat
Raya 47, Central Jakarta or telephone 3906666, 327711 or 3909259.
(als)