Blood situation still critical

Aug 02, 2009 News

The situation at the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) is still critical. This is according to Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who in an invited comment to Kaieteur News yesterday said that the NBTS only has 50 units of blood as opposed to its usual buffer stock of 170 units.
These 50 units are expected to last over the weekend, and according to Minister Ramsammy, it may be enough to attend to any emergency. He is appealing to donors to come forward.
Approximately one week ago, the Health Minister announced that the NBTS was experiencing another severe shortage of blood.
Things are expected to get more complicated for the blood bank because the health sector is expanding its services so the needed buffer stock is expected to increase to 200 units.
NBTS has never rapidly utilised the buffer stock until the situation changed in the last several months.
Dr. Ramsammy had predicted that by 2012, some 12,000 units of blood may be needed annually. This prediction, he noted, might very well become a reality before 2012.
“The demand for this important life saving product has grown faster than my predictions. Our 2012 needs have been reached now but our capacity to supply that is not there yet,” Dr. Ramsammy explained to media operatives.
The projected need for blood at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for the end of the next two weeks has already been exhausted.
This, Minister Ramsammy said, is a serious situation that requires immediate attention in order to maintain an adequate stock level of blood to meet the needs of the ailing public.
However, although a severe shortage of the product is being experienced, the Health Ministry is still bent on eliminating family replacement donors, another term used for forced donation.
The Health Minister said that one reason for the shortage of the product has to do with the recent fire at the Ministry of Health.
According to Dr. Ramsammy, some persons have assumed that there is a halt to certain services. This is clearly evident, given that a number of organisations have cancelled their blood drives, as they believe that the Ministry of Health is not functioning.
Voluntary donors, too, have desisted from going to the blood bank, and according to Dr. Ramsammy, this has resulted in the shortage of adequate blood.

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Blood situation still critical

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