There is a dire need of promoting voluntary blood donation culture in the country as it relies on family donors to sustain the transfusion system. It was very important to promote the culture of voluntary blood donations in Pakistan as the country essentially relied on the ‘family donors’ to sustain the transfusion system. These views were expressed by Parliamentary Secretary Health Dr. Nausheen Hamid and Prof. Hassan Abbas Zaheer, Project Director, Safe Blood Transfusion Programme at a Seminar to mark World Blood Donor Day held recently at a local hotel in Islamabad.
Also present on the occasion, representatives of German partners KfW, PRCS, UN Agencies and others. The Islamabad blood banks and colleges students and other stakeholders also participated.
Dr. Nausheen Hamid in her address said that SafeBlood Transfusion Programme is a flagship project of the government. Blood safety is the key priority for the new government and the implementation of SBTP has picked up pace during the present regime as the government places great emphasise on blood safety. She informed that a regional blood center is being constructed in Islamabad and will be completed by the end of this year. The Islamabad already have a model regulatory system of blood transfusion and now the service delivery system will be reformed through new modern blood center.
Prof. Hassan Abbas Zaheer said that this was not an enviable situation and placed unnecessary burden on families of patients who are already under stress. Reliance on voluntary and regular blood donors will also improve the blood safety standards manifold. In addition, it will also transform the current ‘demand-driven system’ into a ‘supply-driven system’ as is the case in the countries which have an efficient and well functioning blood system, he said. To achieve this objective, healthy people, particularly the youth have to come forward and donate blood on a regular basis, 3 to 4 times a year. The Islamabad Regional Blood Centre will be developed by the end of the next year and must have 100% reliance on voluntary and regular blood donors.
