KARACHI, Feb 8: Experts taking part in an international symposium on Sunday called for steps aimed at increasing the production of blood components in the country to help overcome the shortage of blood in the country , besides bringing the per unit cost down.
"Why should a patient be given whole blood when he or she, for instance, only needs red cells in it?" asked Dr James T Perkins of the Evanston Northwestern Hospital, Chicago. Such practices were not advised medically too, he added, while talking to Dawn on Sunday.
"For example, if you have to transfuse certain amount of red blood cells and you don't have them available, you will have to give whole unit of blood, which can create an overload of components in a patient which he or she doesn't need."
Prof Abdul Mujeeb of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, talking to this reporter after the proceedings of the last session of the two-day symposium said: "If we start separating various components from the whole blood, one bag of it may be sufficient for three or four patients."
This would, besides helping overcome the shortage of blood in the country, help make blood banking business more cost-effective. "Take for instance screening for various deadly diseases.
"This is not being done at a majority of our blood banks, as we all know. But if we start separating the blood components and make several bags out of one, the cost will also be spread out."
Answering a question, Dr Mujeeb said the technology needed to produce components was not an involved one. "Al we need are centrifuges, that's all." Initial investment of less than a million would be required to equip a major blood bank with the technology needed, he said.
Blood transfusion was a kind of transplantation, so every precaution should be made just as in every transplant surgery, Dr Mujeeb said. Blood banks should be run by professionals and experts. It had been observed that most of the blood banks in the country were being run by mere technicians, he deplored.
He said that as laws on safe blood transfusion had already been passed by the legislatures concerned, all the non-registered blood banks should be closed down.
All the experts speaking at the symposium, which was organized by the Healthcare Academy for Knowledge and Essa Laboratory, focused on creating awareness about safe blood transfusion among masses and adopting quality control measures at every step.
They said the people should know what was good blood banking and for this purpose they should be motivated and educated. They suggested exemption of the screening test kits from import duties because these were considered to be life-saving items.
The experts also underlined the need for an increased role of the communities, adding that people should be encouraged to volunteer blood. In this regard people should be educated and some incentives might be provided too, they proposed.
Earlier at the technical sessions, Dr Perkins, Dr Mohammad A Pothiawala, Syed Arif Azeem, Prof Shahana Urooj Kazmi and Prof Sirajudaula Syed made their presentations.
S Arif Azeem, Dr James T Perkins and Mohammad A Pothiawala presented recommendations to ensure safe blood transfusion. They stressed on increasing the recruitment of voluntary donors; providing information to family donors as to how they could become volunteer donors to avoid the rush for blood when someone in their family needs it and forming a professional society of blood bankers to come up with certain sets of standards.