The Second Round of blood bank inspections in Peshawar was completed earlier this month by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Blood Transfusion Authority (KPBTA). The Authority inspected 10 blood banks in Peshawar including Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital; North West General Hospital; Fatimid Foundation Thalassaemia Centre; Mercy Teaching Hospital, Frontier Foundation Thalassaemia Centre; Kuwait Teaching Hospital; Hamza Foundation Thalassaemia Centre; Govt. Naseerullah Babar Memorial Hospital; Moulvi Ameer Shah Memorial Hospital; and Naseer Teaching Hospital.
All the inspected blood banks extended their full support and cooperation to the Inspection teams and appreciated their suggestions and recommendations for improvements. The Inspection team comprised of a representative from Islamabad Blood Transfusion Authority (Dr. Usman Waheed) and Peshawar based haematologists as KPBTA inspectors (Dr. Noor e Saba, Dr. Munawar Ali Shah, Dr. Tariq Humayun, and Dr. Muhammad Nisar).
The technical tools of Inspection included the Islamabad BTA developed inspection forms, checklists, reporting formats, etc. Based on the recommendations of the Inspection teams, licenses would be granted to the Blood Banks or the gaps and deficiencies communicated to the concerned blood banks. The KPBTA now plans to organize a “License Awarding Ceremony” for the Peshawar blood banks. This will then be followed up by inspections in the other districts of the province. It is expected that with this successful regulation system, the standard of blood transfusion services in the province will improve manifold and provide a direct benefit to the general public in terms of much improved access to safe blood for transfusion.
Earlier, in April 2019, the KP BTA completed the First Round of inspections in the provincial capital Peshawar, when seven large blood banks were inspected at the Lady Reading Hospital; Khyber Teaching Hospital; Hayatabad Medical Complex; Institute of Kidney Diseases; Burns and Trauma Centre; Regional Blood Centre; and Rehman Medical Institute.
Blood transfusion is an indispensable, potentially life-saving medical intervention. However, the inherent risks of blood and the complexity of providing adequate, timely and equitable access to safe blood and blood components require an organized blood regulatory system. Within that system, a competent blood regulatory authority assures that appropriate standards are met for production of blood products and monitoring of blood safety. With this objective, the KP government in 2017, notified the KP BTA under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Blood Transfusion Safety Authority Act XXV of 2016. Dr. Jamal Abdul Nasir, a senior public health expert working at the provincial Health Department was appointed as its first Chief Executive Officer while the KPBTA Secretariat has been established in the premises of the Peshawar Regional Blood Centre in Hayatabad.
