PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will establish Blood Transfusion Safety Authority to regulate collection, testing, processing, storage, distribution and issuance of blood and its products at public and private hospitals to safeguard people against spread of infections.

A draft law to be called KP Blood Transfusion Safety Authority Act (BTSAA), 2016 currently being vetted at law department is aimed at ensuring safe use of blood and its products including plasma, free from viruses of HIV, Hepatitis B and C and other infective agents and the patients get safe blood transfusion at the public and private hospitals.

The provincial government with the financial assistance of the German government has established a Regional Blood Centre (RBC) at Hayatabad Medical Complex that will start operations soon while three other such centres are being set up in Swat, Abbottabad and Dera Ismail Khan.

The establishment of these centres has been included in the current Annual Development Programme. The centres would be responsible for provision of safe blood to the hospitals.

Authority being set up to regulate collection, testing, processing, storage and issuance of blood

To ensure the smooth functioning of RBCs and facilitate the patients, the draft law will bind every physician, surgeon and other relevant staffers to ensure that blood and its components being transfused to patients are certified as safe.

The centres will also make sure rational and clinical use of blood transfusion under the guidance of the committees to be formed under the law in the respective hospitals in line with the guideline to be framed by the Blood Safety Authority.

It also makes it binding upon the hospitals that blood transfusions are documented and in accordance with the procedure outlined in the law. The head office of the Authority will be based in Peshawar with regional offices as the government may deem appropriate.

The eight-member committee will function under secretary health while director-general health services, chief executive officer of Healthcare Commission, medical directors of Lady Reading Hospital, Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex and commandant Combined Military Hospital, a legal expert, a senior heamatologist and a representative of blood donor organisation, to be nominated by the government for three years, will be its members.

The members may give up their membership by tendering resignation to the government or may be removed on grounds of inefficiency and misconduct but they would be given opportunity of being heard prior to termination. The Authority will hold at least four meetings annually and the decisions are to be taken by one-third majority vote. In case of tie, the chairman will cast vote.

Powers and functions of the Authority include making policy to regulate all aspects of blood transfusion in the province and to ensure that processes relating to collection, testing of human blood and its components, preparation, storage, distribution, issuance and administration are undertaken only by blood banks or regional blood centre besides prescribing minimum standards and specification for registration of blood banks or regional blood centres and issuance licences on fee as may be prescribed.

It will also cancel licences and registration of the blood banks and fix services charges for blood and its products.

Sources told Dawn that the health department was trying its level best to pass the law and frame rules as soon as possible with a view to pave the way for smooth functioning of RBC and blood banks at the hospitals.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2016