In Sindh, the four blood banks would be set up in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Nawabshah ensuring availability of 110,000 bags of safe blood across the province, the head of Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority, Dr Zahid Ansari, announced on Friday. Latest diagnostic machines and test kits will be provided at the blood banks to ensure safe supply of blood. The unit in Karachi will operate at Sindh Government’s Qatar Hospital.
The Sindh health secretary, Dr Aftab Khatri, has given approval of the tender for the healthcare facility and construction work will start from next month. At any given time, 50,000 blood bags would be available in Karachi with 20,000 bags each in other three cities. The centres will have separate facilities for blood components, including platelets and plasma, and the patients can be given only the required blood component.
Need for blood
With an estimated 65,000 children suffering from thalassaemia and other blood-related diseases in Pakistan, around 2.6 million blood bags are required every year in the country, according to health experts. The number of blood bags collected through donations is just 1.5 million.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2012.
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