Safe transfusions: Health Dept to be sent Blood Safety Bill draft

Bill seeks powers to seal unlicensed blood banks.

LAHORE:

The Punjab Blood Transfusion Authority will send a revised first draft of a Blood Safety Bill to the Health Department on Friday (today). The Authority has asked for blood transfusion officers for each district in the province.  

The Authority currently exercises powers under the Punjab Transfusion of Safe Blood Ordinance 1999. It sent the first draft of the Bill to the Health secretary on January 6. The draft was sent back with some observations. A copy of the draft was also sent to the Law Department for vetting.

BTA officials said they had incorporated the Health Department’s observations and prepared another draft which they would send to the department on Friday.

The Blood Transfusion Authority has asked for blood transfusion officers for each district and has sought powers to seal unlicensed blood banks. At present, the powers to seal such premises lie with district governments. The Bill has also sought more penalties, fines and fee structures. It has suggested setting up a complaint cell where people can inform the BTA about unlicensed blood banks and sale of blood.

The BTA functions with one doctor, Dr Jaffar Saleem, who is also the BTA secretary, and four clerks. The Authority has nominated a panel of eight to 10 consultants from various hospitals who, based on availability, accompany the BTA inspectors on their raids.

Last year, the BTA had moved a summary to create 10 seats for medical officers. The government had approved two seats because of financial constraints.

The Blood Transfusion Authority initiated a crackdown against unlicensed blood banks on January 1. Due to a shortage of staff, the Health Department asked the health executive district officer to proceed against all such blood banks. Drug inspectors were given a check list to assess safety protocols. The Blood Transfusion Authority gave a list of 400 unlicensed blood banks to district governments.

Dr Saleem said they had received applications for licences from 220 of the 400 blood banks on the list. He said they had issued licences to 20 blood banks and had asked 50 of them to improve safety standards. The rest of them were being processed. He said the blood banks have been told to apply for registration or face legal action. He said all district offices of health were cooperating with them.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2015.