Nucleic acid testing (NAT), claimed to be the most advanced technology to directly detect blood infections, is to be used for the screening of all donated blood in Bali. Reportedly, Bali’s governor has approved an annual funding allocation of Rp 6.8 billion (US$700,000) for the implementation of NAT to screen 40,000 bags of blood this year. NAT has been adopted in countries around the world, including in the US, Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and many countries in Europe and Asia.
Donated blood possesses the risk of transmitting blood borne diseases during transfusion, such HIV, hepatitis and West Nile virus. “Until recently, Bali only used NAT in a limited fashion, on some 5,000 blood bags annually, in accordance with the value of funding assistance from the central government,” acknowledged the director of the blood donor unit at the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) in Bali, AAG Sudewa. Other blood supplies, not screened with NAT, were usually screened with a method called ELISA, which is also regarded as safe by World Health Organization (WHO) standards.
“NAT is much more sensitive. It is the latest blood screening technology in the world today,” said Sudewa, citing that among NAT’s advantages was the ability to detect HIV within its window period. Annually, Bali records a total of 40,000 available bags of blood. Besides the commitment to improve its blood screening technology, Bali’s general hospital, Sanglah, in Denpasar has also started using a new apheresis machine, the main function of which is to separate blood into its component parts.
The machine was donated by PT Prudential Life Assurance via the Indonesian Children’s Oncology Foundation (YOAI). The machine is to be operated at the hospital’s PMI Bali blood donor unit and will be useful in implementing safer blood transfusions for adults and children with acute leukemia. “The machine could prevent the paralyzing symptoms caused by a patient receiving a full-blood transfusion because it will be able to completely eliminate the blood components not needed by the patient,” said Sudewa, stating that such symptoms usually occurred among children suffering from leukemia.
Sanglah Hospital director I Wayan Sutarga said that the use of this machine would mean that child cancer patients from the eastern part of Indonesia would not have to fly to Jakarta or abroad. Bali’s health agency recorded cancer as the second deadliest disease after cardiovascular disease. Data from Dharmais Cancer Hospital shows that there are more than 11,000 new child cancer patients every year in Indonesia. Data from the Health Ministry in 2011 estimated that Indonesia had around 16 million cancer patients, or 6 percent of the national population.
WHO estimated that in 2030 the rate of cancer would increase seven-fold. However, patients in Bali must remain patient as the new machine cannot be operated on a daily basis. Sanglah hospital management said that it was currently calculating the operational expenses of the machine to be charged to the patient. It is still a question mark whether these costs would be included under the free healthcare scheme, Bali Mandara. Sudewa said the machine had been tried out to assist in the transfusion of a patient with Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS), which is an acute polyneuropathy, a disorder affecting the peripheral nervous system.
source : bali daily
source : bali daily
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