There is a decline in the mortality rate of acute kidney injury patients, from 58 percent to 52 percent in the last weekJakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Health Ministry's spokesperson, Mohammad Syahril, stated that the mortality rate of acute kidney injury (AKI) has decreased since the government removed syrup medicines from the market and provided an antidote.
"There is a decline in the mortality rate of acute kidney injury patients, from 58 percent to 52 percent in the last week," Syahril noted at a press conference on acute kidney injury on Tuesday.
The spokesperson detailed that the number of cases of deaths as of October 23, 2022, had reached 141, or equivalent to 58 percent of the total cases of 245 AKI patients in 26 provinces. Meanwhile, as of October 31, 2022, the death cases reached 159, or equivalent to 52 percent of the total 304 cases in 27 provinces.
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"Apart from that, a decreasing trend also occurred in additional new cases, from an average of five (cases), four, three, two, to one," he added.
Syahril noted that the new cases recorded in the last week were still being studied to look for a link to Ethylene Glycol (EG) contamination in the syrup medicine samples taken by the patients.
According to the spokesperson, the government had adopted several policies to prevent the emergence of new AKI cases, one of which was by temporarily banning the use of syrup medicines for children.
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"For those who are already sick, we take actions, such as (by conducting) hemodialysis and administering the antidote," the spokesperson said.
He noted that the condition of 10 out of 11 AKI patients treated at the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) had shown improvement after receiving the Fomepizole antidote. The provision of Fomepizole is in accordance with the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Data showed that the effectiveness of giving Fomepizole to patients with acute kidney injury, which is assumed to be caused by intoxication, is above 90 percent.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Raka Adji
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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