28 September 2004	Tuesday	12 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Sept 27: Out of the 450 blood banks in the province, 49 have been issued notices for closure due to various reasons, while some 150 have applied for registration to the Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority, of which only eight have been registered so far.

Seven of the blood banks, which were given notices, have been closed down. In Karachi, there are 102 blood banks, of which 52 have applied for SBTA registration. These details were provided at a seminar organized by the Husseini Blood Bank on Monday by speakers, who also discussed the state of blood transfusion services in Sindh.

They observed that more than 70 per cent of the blood units were donated by 'exchange' blood donors, and only 16 per cent by volunteers, adding that up to 13 per cent of the units came from 'commercial donors'.

Dr Abdul Mujeeb of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre said the blood transfusion services could not be made safe without the cooperation of the society as a whole. He said the population should be made aware of the need to donate blood voluntarily every now and then.

He said there were numerous diseases which could be transmitted through faulty blood transfusion services. In case of many such diseases symptoms were not manifested in the infected persons.

Dr Mujeeb claimed that no screening test was perfect. In other words, there were chances of transmission of blood-borne diseases even after adequate screening, he said, adding that it was, therefore, important that the donors should be in good health.

Blood should be collected under the supervision of physicians, he said, adding the test kits should be exempted from duties and surcharges. Dr Mujeeb said some relief had been provided to the blood banks in the past in the shape of tax and other exemptions, but the benefits were not passed on to the consumers.

Dr Sarfraz H Jaferry, on the occasion, said merely 20 per cent of the private blood banks screened blood for diseases. The total demand for blood was between 3.5 and 4 million units, he added.

He underscored the need for increasing the rate of screening from 20 per cent to more than 90 per cent in the privately run blood banks. SBTA chief Dr Farhana Memon said her department comprised only two senior officials, for whom it was difficult to change the state of the blood transfusion services. She was of the opinion that cost of implementation should have been considered in the Sindh Blood Transfusion Act- 1998.

The Act, she said, could be implemented properly provided the non-governmental organizations and the media cooperated fully with the authorities. There should be no distinction between the private and public sectors in this regard, she added.

Director-General of the provincial health services, Dr Hussain Bakhsh Memon, agreed with the contention that rate of screening of blood should be above 90 per cent. Dr Farrukh Hasan said whole blood unit should not be used, and only the blood components needed by a patient should be transfused.

Lt-Gen Moinuddin Haider also spoke on the occasion. On the occasion, reminding that steps were also being taken to check the trend of commercialization of blood banks, Dr Mamon said licenses were not issued to many of the banks associated with prestigious hospitals like the Aga Khan Hospital, OMI Clinic, Ziauddin Hospital and others, as these facilities had failed to provide details regarding their recurring expenditures and the charges they sought from the public.