Through thick and thin: Four regional blood banks to open with German help

National Blood Transfusion Programme collaborating on project estimated to cost Rs577.5 million

KARACHI:
The National Blood Transfusion Programme is planning to open four regional blood banks in the province - in Karachi, Hyderabad, Nawabshah and Sukkur, in collaboration with German Development Corporation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit now GIZ and formerly known as GTZ).

The project is estimated to cost Rs577.5 million. Of this amount, 43.7 per cent or Rs252.54 million will be financed by the Sindh government in the form of land. In Karachi, this is 10,000 square feet within Qatar Hospital in Orangi Town. The remaining cost will be met by GTZ, (Rs324.96 million), and will be used for the construction of the banks as well as equipment. In the remaining cities, the space has been allocated at Liaquat University of Medical Sciences of Medical and Health Sciences in Jamshoro, Nursing Hospital in Nawabshah and the Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College in Sukkur.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Secretary of Health Syed Hashim Raza Zaidi said each blood bank will be supplying six government hospitals. The group of four will then be catering to 24 hospitals in their areas. In Karachi, the six hospitals will be Liaquatabad hospital, Korangi, Qatar hospital, Saudabad hospital, Landhi hospital and Civil Hospital, Karachi. Recently, the National Blood Transfusion Programme trained government-run blood banks on how to safely and stock, transfer and perform transfusions.


The facility also aims to separate three blood components, plasma, platelets and red cells, all which can be independently used. Previously, officials claim these cells were either being wasted or not used efficiently which was a grave cause of concern for the health department. Consultant haematologist at the National Institute of Blood Diseases (NIBD) Dr Tahir Shamsi said, for example, the total annual use of blood in Karachi is around 300,000 units and it “sometimes touches 350,000 units.” “The situation in Karachi is not that bad as elsewhere in the country the shortage is great.”

According to Shamsi, between 3.5 million and four million units of blood are required annually of which about 1.6 to 1.7 million is all that is collected. While there are some facilities in Karachi that do separate components and preserve blood till its expiry date, there was an “urgent need for regional blood banks countrywide.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2011.
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