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On stem cells, patients beware
Up close: Stem cell cultures are placed under a microscope in a lab at the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at the University of California
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span class="inline inline-center">Up close: Stem cell cultures are placed under a microscope in a lab at the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at the University of California. Only 11 research hospitals in Indonesia are allowed to provide stem cell therapy, according to an official. AFP/Sandy Huffaker
Stem cells still occupy in a gray area for the Indonesian public, in terms of types of therapy as well as regulations, according to Marhaen Hardjo, a member of the government's National Stem Cell Commission.
'Not many people know about autologous or alloegenic stem cell therapies. Only those with access to go overseas know a bit about it,' Marhaen said over the telephone. 'What most people are familiar with is just the 'stem cell label'.'
Tjandra Yoga Aditama, the chief of the Health Ministry's research and development office, said that stem cell therapy was deemed a 'research-based service' under Health Ministry regulations 833/834 of 2009.
'It means that the activity has to be supervised by appointed educational hospitals,' Tjandra said on the telephone.
He added that the Health Ministry issued regulation No. 32/2014 authorizing 11 hospitals to offer stem cell therapy: Sanglah Hospital in Bali; Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung, West Java; Fatmawati Hospital, Jantung Harapan Kita Hospital, Kanker Dharmais Hospital and Persahabatan Hospital in Jakarta; Dr. Sardjito Hospital in Jogjakarta; Dr. M. Djamil in Padang, West Sumatra; and Dr. Kariadi Hospital in Semarang, Central Java.
The remaining two hospitals ' Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta and Soetomo Hospital in Surabaya, East Java ' were designated 'supervisory' hospitals for stem cell treatment.
'The 11 hospitals are the only official hospitals that are allowed to do stem cell therapy,' Tjandra said. 'As of now, the government has not yet released permits to any other health facilities to offer stem cell therapy.'
Marhaen said that people might be confused about stem cells.
'The public is curious about the therapy ' thanks to massive advertising from overseas ' and is demanding a wider access to the therapy in the country,' Marhaen said. 'As a result, now we see a lot of health clinics offering the therapy.'
However, people were not aware that the government limited stem cell therapy to the 11 hospitals, he said. 'The public is not familiar with the regulations yet; therefore, some parties who are looking for profits may take advantage of this.'
Further, people also had trouble distinguishing stem cell therapy, i.e. injecting living cells into a patient, versus cosmetic products using stem cell secretions, Marhaen said.
Meanwhile, enforcing regulations is another problem.
'The Health Ministry does not have enough resources to act as the police in handling those clinics offering therapy without permit,' according to Marhaen. The government, he said, 'will do something, like force [those clinics] to stop operating ' if something bad happens and we receive reports from public'.
So far, he added, the ministry had yet to find anything troubling.
'I think Indonesia needs to do more clinical trials on stem cell therapy to find out the effectiveness of this therapy,' Marhaen said.
'JP/Niken Prathivi
