KARACHI: Constriction work on four regional blood transfusion centres (RBTCs) in Sindh has entered the last stage and they are going to be completed by the second half of this year, it emerged on Wednesday.

The plan was envisaged four years ago as part of a nationwide safe-blood transfusion programme with the financial assistance of Germany — GIZ and KFW (German development bank).

Serving as the blood procurement and distribution point, the Karachi centre, like the 12 other centres planned across the country, would be linked to at least six hospital-based blood banks (HBBBs). Those hospitals are: Sindh govt hospitals in Lyari, Liaquatabad, New Karachi, Saudabad, Korangi and the Civil Hospital Karachi, officials said.

Similarly, three such centres were going to be completed in Jamshoro, Nawabshah and Sukkur, they added.

They said that constriction work was in progress in Karachi, Jamshoro, Nawabshah and Sukkur with most floors had been completed.

They said the construction of the RBTC in Karachi would be completed by April while the work in Jamshoro and Nawabshah was in progress according to the plan and would be completed by June.

The construction at Sukkur could not start in time because of late clearance and handing over of the site by the authorities concerned, thus it was expected to take a few more months to complete, they said.

The RBTC buildings in Karachi, Jamshoro and Nawabshah would be ready for handing over to the provincial health department in June and in Sukkur by September.

The officials said the centre would mobilise voluntary blood donors and conduct processing, screening, testing, component preparation and storage of blood and ultimately feed the HBBBs linked to it.

Among its main functions are collection of blood only from voluntary non-remunerated blood donations at low risk of acquiring transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs); ensuring 100pc quality assured testing of all donated blood for TTIs, including HIV, hepatitis B and C viruses, syphilis, malaria and blood group serology, compatibility, etc; promotion of rational and appropriate clinical use of blood; promotion of principles of ‘haemovigilance’; and develop human resource (technical and managerial) to ensure adequate numbers of qualified and trained staff in the blood transfusion field, they said.

In Karachi, the RBTC is being constructed in Qatar Hospital in Orangi which will have the capacity of 50,000 blood bags while the capacity in other RBTCs would be 20,000 blood bags.

The officials said the four RBTCs would cover the entire province, once they began working and Sindh would have an effective centralised blood banking system.

An official communiqué said that under a financing agreement with Pakistan a grant of 15 million euro from the German government for an efficient blood transfusion service in Pakistan would be used exclusively for establishing the necessary network and for the construction of regional blood centres, provision of blood bank equipment and financing accompanying operative training measures.

“It will be like a dream come true when a standard and high-quality blood transfusion in Pakistan becomes a reality,” said an official.

They officials said originally, all 13 regional blood transfusion centres were to be established in the country by 2013, but it delayed by two years for want of guarantees and preparedness. Yet they said Sindh was leading the rest of the country, whereas the remaining nine centres needed much more time to be completed.

According to the plan, some 78 HBBBs would be renovated and updated for their linking with the regional centres.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2015

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