Lack of blood transfusion legislation have unbridled the malpractices in the blood donation services in some of the unregistered commercial blood banks, which have severely put the lives of the patients at risks while ‘Blood Donors Day’ is being observed all over the world today (June 15) to paid tribute to thousands people who saves the lives of others through blood transfusions.
Sources seeking anonymity said that the unregistered blood banks are not even equipped with the basic refrigerators, which are essential to maintain the temperature of the donated blood. They said that if the blood is not maintained on specific temperature (4 to 6 C), it loses its efficacy, resulting this blood as useless, which may even harm the life of the patient.
They also said that all is happening as the blood banks are functioning without any proper monitoring and valid licensing for the last five years due to non-functional Blood Transfusion Authority. The city has more than 50 blood banks that are providing 400 to 500 pints every day.
A doctor on the condition of anonymity said that these blood banks have no donor selection criteria and mostly based on replacement donations in which the donor can hide unsafe practices in life. The blood test or screening is commonly done through ‘Rapid Test’ method that has only 92-95 percent accuracy, thus transferring five to eight percent of the viruses to the patient. The rapid test system failed to detect addiction related diseases. The main purpose of blood testing is to reduce the risk of transfusion of infection through blood and reduce the risk too zero level.
Sources told this scribe that due to lack of monitoring and poor screening most of the blood banks did not care for the hemoglobin, medical history, CP (complete picture) tests of the donors that result in transferring of disease to the patient.
Experts were of the view that one should properly check the blood from before transfusion. They said that the trust deficit between the blood bank and donors stems largely from bad experiences of individuals who have not received proper attention, donor care, and donor satisfaction from blood banks. It is extremely important for voluntary donors who give blood, plasma, or cellular components of their own free will and receive no payment in cash or kind for this act, to know that their gift of life has been used properly. In order to build this trust it is imperative for blood transfusion services to be transparent, non-discriminatory, non-profit, and accountable; providing safe, efficacious, and equitable blood to patients in need.
Donor retention also demands that the donor has a good and valuable first experience, satisfactory enough for them to convert to regular donation over time. Any deficiency on the part of the service providers only serves to damage the level of trust between themselves and the community jeopardizing the future of a partnership.
As per the Punjab Transfusion of Safe Blood Ordinance 1999, blood transfusion authority was set up to check illegal blood banks and business of substandard and unscreened blood and monitoring of blood banks to ensure that these banks are managed and run by qualified professionals preferably having post graduate qualifications in blood transfusion, haematology or clinical pathology recognized by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council established under the Medical and Dental Council Ordinance, 1962 (XXXII of 1962).