Blood transfusion: Authority ineffective as illegal businesses proliferate

Rafique acknowledges authority’s failure

LAHORE:

Blood donated at select camps situated across public spaces is touted to be one of the chief carriers of diseases like hepatitis, syphilis and the HIV.

The Express Tribune has learnt that the camps are established by some blood banks without the government’s permission. Moreover, the establishments indulge in all sorts of malpractice. This includes the illegal vending of blood that has not been screened. “Anyone can purchase blood from testing labs situated in the vicinity of teaching hospitals,” Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) general secretary Salman Kazmi says. Kazmi said the banks collected blood from camps or procured it from addicts. “This is public knowledge but our government seems to be unaware of this lucrative practice,” he said. Kazmi said over 450 unauthorised blood banks are functioning across the province. “Unfortunately, there is no law to regulate them,” he said. Kazmi said potentially unsafe blood is being sold across such blood banks for up to Rs3,000. He said such establishments were also involved in the unregulated trade of reagents, blood bags and kits. Kazmi said the government ought to seal such establishments since it has largely been established that only voluntary donors are safe. At the very least, he said, the government should regulate them.

Ineffective blood transfusion authority

The Punjab Blood Transfusion Authority (PBTA) was constituted in 2006 to ensure the provision of safe blood to the people. The authority has largely been unable to fulfil its chief objective as dubious blood banks continue to flourish.

Government’s response

Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique acknowledged the PBTA’s ineffectiveness. He said the government will look into the law and was working towards the establishment of a centralised blood banking system. He said this was essential to ensure the provision of safe blood to the people and curb the blood-based spread of diseases.  “Regional blood banks are already functioning across Multan and Bahawalpur. More will follow suit across the province’s remaining divisions to facilitate public access to safe blood,” Rafique said.   He said the system would encompass all hospitals across every division. Rafique said all the facilities would be connected to the system in a bid to ensure safe transfusion of blood.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2016.