KARACHI, July 10: The Patients’ Welfare Association has decided to establish a Thalassaemia clinic on the premises of the Civil Hospital.

But the establishment of the clinic will be preceded by the expansion and renovation of the blood bank so that it could cater to the needs of more patients than the PWA expects to receive when the clinic becomes operational.

The PWA is the largest non-political, non-governmental onganization in the country. Located in the Civil Hospital, it has been run by generations of students from the Dow Medical College since 1979. The PWA provides free basic medical facilities to poor patients of the city, especially those of the Civil Hospital.

PWA volunteers told Dawn on Thursday that at present the blood bank gave 170 to 200 blood bags to needy patients free. They added that the output of the blood bank was expected to double with the establishment of the Thalassaemia clinic.

“We have recently started the facility of providing various components of blood like fresh frozen plasma, platelets and packed cells through the working of our intricate equipment and machinery. These include Cyrofuge (separates components from whole blood), Ultra Low Refrigerator (stores plasma at minus 85 degrees Centigrade), special refrigerator (stores blood at 2-4 degrees Centigrade) and Blood Cell Refrigerator,” they explained.

They said the renovation and expansion of the blood bank would be carried out in the first phase. “The amount required for the renovation and expansion of the blood bank is estimated to be five million rupees. Architects tasked to plan the Thalassaemia clinic are working out how much funds will be needed for it,” they explained.

They added that the administration of the Civil Hospital was gracious enough to allow them to use the old library of the health centre for the Thalassaemia clinic.

The PWA volunteers said that arrangements had been made to provide facilities to patients while the blood bank was being renovated and expanded.

They said that at present the PWA offered at least five facilities to needy patients. “The PWA blood bank, recognized by the World Health Organization, is the largest and most reputed in the city. It helps provide more than 200 pints of healthy, disease-free blood daily. The PWA diagnostic laboratory provide routine baseline investigations to more than 200 patients every day. The PWA drug bank caters to the drug requests of more than 50 patients of the Civil Hospital Karachi every day. The TB follow-up clinic provides complete 9-12 months therapy to about 200 poor patients suffering from tuberculosis. The Thalassaemia follow-up clinic provides blood and medication to more than 180 children suffering from the disease,” they said.