Red Cross to train medical assistants

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Chapter of the Indonesian Red Cross in cooperation with the Ministry of Health will train 25 high school graduates to work as blood transfusion assistants starting this year.

"They will be educated until they are capable of taking blood. They will get a diploma after completing their one year course," Sukantini, chief of the Jakarta Red Cross transfusion unit, said over the weekend.

In a meeting between the local Red Cross and donors Sukantini said that the transfusion assistants could then pursue their education to a higher level in the future.

The Jakarta branch of the Red Cross, the largest of Indonesia's Red Cross branches throughout the country, currently has around 300 employees working as laboratory staffers and administration workers.

"With this small number of employees, we are always busy, some of them even have to work seven days a week on an overtime basis. Besides, we also have mobile transfusion units which need personnel. Therefore we have to educate new people soon to do a lot of work," she said

She added that the staff shortages mean that donors sometimes have to wait in line for a long time to be attended by transfusion assistants.

She said that on July 18, the day the live television coverage of the World Cup soccer competition ended, the transfusion unit was very quiet, but on the next day it had to serve around 300 donors.

"We, of course, were overwhelmed by the big number of donors. I believed some were impatient and got angry. Therefore, until today, we do not dare to publicize to attract more donors because we are still short of transfusion assistants," Sukantini explained.

Previously, the National Red Cross office handled the recruitment and education of new transfusion assistants, but two years ago the office stopped the course due to budgetary constraints.

Sukantini said the need for more transfusion assistants is dictated by the increasing number of donors in Jakarta. The number has risen from 224,286 persons in 1988 to 385,095 persons last year. (als)