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Woodlands Hospital to screen blood again
The Woodlands Hospital is in the process of completing the paperwork and documentation that would eventually enable the health institution to be up to scratch with the Caribbean Regional Standards for the screening of blood.
Technical Laboratory Manager of the hospital, Trisha Bellamy, said that by the end of the year the documentation should be completed, and the hospital would then be credible enough to collect and screen its own blood, rather than having to depend entirely on the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS).
She added that after the paperwork is completed, the hospital will then commence the training of personnel and prepare the necessary equipment for blood screening. As it relates to the recommendation by Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, for all private hospitals to establish their own blood bank, Bellamy said that it is an area that is receiving the attention of the officials at the health institution.
“We have maternity and surgery cases that need immediate blood and so the idea is one which will be made into reality in the near future.”
It was explained that the hospital being totally dependent on the NBTS for blood is proving to be very difficult as some patients are in need of urgent blood, and the long process it takes to acquire the blood is one that leaves much to be desired.
Since March of this year, the Ministry of Health banned all private hospitals from collecting and screening blood, the reason given that they did not meet the requisite standards like that of the NBTS.
Recently, the NBTS acquired the capacity to test for Chagas disease, something which private hospitals do not have the capability to test for.
Unless the private hospitals meet the same standards like the NBTS, they would not be allowed to collect blood from donors.
The private health institutions are being asked to enhance their laboratories, in order to facilitate the proper testing and screening of blood collected from donors, so that the blood is entirely safe. Minister Ramsammy had earlier stated that the new Health Facilities Licensing Act now gives the Ministry the power to check the ‘books’ of the hospitals so as to ensure that they are adhering to the regulation.
During the course of the ban, the private health facilities are acquiring their blood from the blood bank at a cost of $3,000 per unit.
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