Stroke patients should be treated within three hours

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.