Stroke patients should be treated within three hours
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
People who suffer from a stroke should be treated by a doctor within three hours of experiencing it to enable them to have a better chance of recovering, an official said here over the weekend.
Indonesian Stroke Foundation (Yastroki) Deputy Chairman Haryono Suyono said that people who had a stroke could be saved from death or major brain damage if they were taken to hospital within the first three hours.
Speaking at the Jakarta Islamic Hospital, he said that the foundation planned to hold forums, involving district and subdistrict chiefs here, to improve their awareness about strokes.
"I have talked with deputy governor for social welfare affairs Djailani on the matter. He agreed with the idea," said Haryono, who is the former coordinating minister for social welfare and poverty alleviation.
He said Yastroki planned to run major campaigns through the mass media to improve the awareness of Jakarta residents on stroke.
He said Jakarta would be chosen as a pilot project for such a medical campaign because the capital city had the largest number of stroke patients among large cities in the country.
Without mentioning the total number of patients in the city, president of the Indonesian Neurological Association Samino revealed that the Cipto Mangunkusumo general hospital received some 1,000 stroke patients this year, while the Jakarta Islamic hospital had 600 patients.
"Some 30 percent of stroke patients could not be saved, mainly because they were taken to the hospital too late," Samino said.
Although stroke still features below infectious diseases and heart attacks as a cause of death, Samino said the number of stroke patients here tended to increase every year.
He said the increase in the number of stroke patients was caused by an increase in unhealthy habits, such as smoking, drinking alcohol and the cholesterol contained in food.
He said strokes were also caused by diabetes, stress, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.