Pakistan is on its way to formulating a strategic plan to bring its blood transfusion services at par with standards laid down by the World Health Organisation. At present, the country has a fragmented blood transfusion system marked by absence of mechanisms for the reporting, collection and analysis of data on blood utilisation, coupled with a host of other daunting challenges.
Recognizing the need for systems to ensure the safe and appropriate use of blood, the Husaini Blood Bank, in collaboration with the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), organised a national seminar on ‘Safe Blood Transfusion’ here Monday. The objective is to formulate a plan to bring the country’s blood services at par with WHO standards.
The executive director of the National Institute of Health, Major General (r) Masood Anwar, was the chief guest at the opening of the seminar, which is being attended, among others, by members of blood transfusion authorities of all the four provinces, as well as Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas. This meeting is part of the Global Fund Round-2.
The WHO recommends an integrated approach for blood safety that has four key elements namely, establishment of a nationally-coordinated blood transfusion service; collection of blood from exclusively voluntary donors from low-risk populations; testing of all blood for compatibility and transfusion-transmissible infections; and reduction of unnecessary transfusions.
Addressing the participants, Masood Anwar highlighted the role of the regulatory authorities on safe blood transfusion. He emphasised that projects involving blood safety should aggressively be implemented without any gaps, particularly in terms of holding trainings and extending material and infrastructural support. “Sustained efforts are required to maintain the tempo of blood transfusion safety in public and private sector,” he said.
Most of the public sector blood banks in Pakistan are hospital-based. The private blood banks are also either hospital-based or stand-alone blood banks. A majority of the blood banks are small in size with an annual blood donation of less than 5,000 or less than 1 per day. These blood banks function without any or little regulatory control. Most of the blood banks have inadequate facilities; they are too small, crowded, have inappropriate flow of donors, inadequate material supplies, no entrance restrictions, out-dated and poorly maintained equipment, lack of valid reagents, inappropriate and inadequate blood storage capacity, highly unsafe waste management, and poor documentation.
The programme manager of NACP, Dr. Hasan Abbas Zaheer, made a presentation on ‘Blood Safety - Needs and Challenges.’ He said, it has been demonstrated that countries that work to develop well-organized national blood transfusion systems can make great strides. “With political and financial support, such systems can establish the policies, set the standards, and provide the technical assistance needed to bring these life-saving treatments even to resource-poor communities,” he stated.
The participants agreed that the project should be designed to motivate voluntary blood donors. Donor clubs should be established throughout the country and the collected blood should be screened and tested by standard blood transfusion centres, they emphasized.
The director of Husaini Blood Bank, Dr. S. Sarfaraz H. Jafri, recommended the need to plug the gaps in the existing blood transfusion services. “More training programmes should be arranged for doctors and technicians working in the NGO sector blood banks, failing which the objectives that we aspire to achieve will not be realized,” he warned.
Referring to the need to initiate training programmes for managerial staff, the speakers suggested that mangers should be asked to implement all standard protocols and infection control practices within their organizations. “The government, through its blood transfusion authorities, should strictly monitor them on a regular basis,” it was proposed. Dr. Huma Qureshi, project manager of Global Fund Round 2, presented an overview of the Fund’s activities.
In the end, Dr. Sarfaraz Jafri presented a declaration which stated that policy makers, in formulating future strategies, should make joint efforts for the establishment of a community non-remunerated voluntary blood donor registry and promotion of good laboratory practices in blood banks. The declaration also referred to the role of healthcare providers in rational and safe use of blood and blood products; the role of the state in regulation, coordination, and monitoring of blood transfusion services and strengthening of public sector blood banks; registration of suppliers; and availability of world standard diagnostic reagents, consumables and equipment.
Dr. Syed Abdul Mujeeb, Associate Professor, Blood Bank, JPMC, made a presentation on ‘Regulation of blood banks; India and USA experience’ while Dr. Sarfaraz H. Jafri highlighted ‘Training of private/non-profit sector blood bank staff to cover safe blood techniques and screening of HIV, HBV and HCV.’
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Provincial programme managers of the AIDS Control Programme and project officer of the Global Fund share a light moment at the national seminar on ‘Safe Blood Transfusion.’