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Donors flock blood bank

Mar 06, 2009 News

The National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) was flocked with a number of blood donors yesterday, and 28 units of blood were collected.
National Blood Donor Manager of the NBTS, Shameeza Mangal, said that the majority of the blood donated was for family replacement.
She explained that 25 donors were turned down, due to the fact that their iron level was low or their blood pressure was high.
There were 15 voluntary donors, while 13 were for family replacement yesterday.
Mangal stressed the importance of the blood bank attaining the 48 units for Saturday, as there are patients in dire need of it at the Georgetown Public Hospital, especially those undergoing operations such as open-heart surgeries.
For February, 414 units of blood were collected, and out of that number 271 came from voluntary donation while 143 were for family replacement.
This is not the first time that the blood bank is facing a severe shortage of blood, as only a few months ago the NBTS did not even have enough to facilitate an emergency case.
The severe shortage comes at a time when the Health Ministry has banned all private hospitals from collecting and screening blood, as it was explained that they need to reach the same testing standards as the NBTS.
Mangal told Kaieteur News that the blood bank is currently faced with a situation whereby enough persons are not volunteering themselves as regular donors, and institutions are not committing to hosting regular blood drives, thus resulting in a shortage problem.
She said that the current state of affairs is also serving to negatively impact the Ministry of Health’s target of relying only on voluntary donors.
It was also revealed that a request for a minimum of 48 units of blood has been made for the planned operations at the hospital. The needed blood types, she noted, must include O+, A+ and B+.
However, as the situation is, Mangal said that the blood bank will not be able to fulfil its mandate without the urgent support of voluntary donors.
“The doctors will not be able to conduct the surgeries if they do not have the requested amount of blood. To do one open-heart surgery requires about 20 units of blood, and if we can’t give that to them (the doctors) then they can’t help the patients.”
For this reason, the Donor Manager divulged that the NBTS has been forced to resort to commencing a ‘Call Back’ programme, whereby former voluntary regular donors will be requested to give blood once they are healthy enough to do so. (Fareeza Haniff)

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