PESHAWAR: National Coordinator, Safe Blood Transfusion Programme, Prof Hassan Abbas Zaheer has revealed that the federal ministry of health has planned to set up three new regional blood centres (RBCs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to facilitate the patients and overcome the blood-related problems and fatal diseases.

Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, he said the health ministry had already established a modern regional blood transfusion centre in Hayatabad Medical Complex. He said the provincial government had provided land for establishing the RBCs and construction work would soon be initiated on the projects.

The RBCs, he said would be set up in Abbottabad, Swat and Dera Ismail Khan to serve as procurement and distribution centres to regulate all activities which involve mobilisation and retention of voluntary and regular blood donors, maintenance of donor database, collection of blood donations as well as processing, screening and testing.

Dr Zaheer said the system to promote safe blood and improve access to safe blood had been initiated at the federal level in 2008 and the RBCs had been established with support of the German government in 2010.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2017