PESHAWAR, June 1: The NWFP Blood Transfusion Authority has stopped registering blood banks in the province because of ambiguity in the law, sources said. The BTA, which was supposed to register blood banks to ensure that blood transfused to patients had been screened for HIV/Aids and hepatitis, had asked the provincial government to determine its jurisdiction in the presence of the Health Regulatory Authority (HRA).
Source said that the provincial government a year ago had established the HRA under the NWFP Medical and Health Institutions and Regulation of Health Care Services Act 2002 to check malpractices in the health sector.
The HRA was vested with powers to register clinics and diagnostic outfits, and the BTA to register the blood banks.
“The government may convene a meeting of the HRA and the BTA to determine their jurisdictions,” the sources said.
The process of registration of blood banks would restart after the meeting, they added.
Sources said that 16 blood banks in the province in the district headquarters hospitals had been equipped with kits to screen HIV/Aids and Hepatitis B and C while the rest of the districts were yet to get the same facilities.
“Shortage of staff and resources are the main problems hampering our efforts to implement the Safe Blood Transfusion Act in eight districts. The blood banks in these districts have no screening facilities,” they added.
According to the law, one haematologist and several blood bank technicians, besides a proper place and equipment, were mandatory to ensure safe blood transfusion. Any outlet functioning without these facilities, sources added, was liable for a penalty of Rs50,000.
Once power distribution between the HRA and the BTA was clarified, the latter would first of all inspect all blood banks and the ones found without the mandatory provisions would be given three months to comply with the law, they added.
These centres would again be inspected after three months and if found to have complied with the law would be registered for a year to be renewed after expiry of the registration provided they complied with rules and regulations, sources said.
Even after getting registered, the blood banks would be inspected every month, they said.
Sources said that the BTA officials had already visited the blood banks in Mardan, Charsadda, Kohat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan and informed the health department about the anomalies they had found there