Workshop to review voluntary non-remunerated blood donor programs

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Workshop to review voluntary non-remunerated blood donor programs

National Blood Transfusion Programme (NBTP) in collaboration with technical assistance of GTZ Health Program, Pakistan organized a Two-day Workshop on “Voluntary Non-Remunerated Blood Donation (VNRBD)” recently at a local hotel in Islamabad.

The Workshop was organized to review and exchange experiences of the voluntary non-remunerated blood donor program and identify the constraints whereas to update the participants on various strategies for donor recruitment, selection and retention and active community participation in promoting Voluntary Non-Remunerated Blood Donation.

The workshop was conducted in an interactive manner and consisted of presentations, discussions and group activities from selected modules to develop a blood donor policy and IEC tools in Pakistan.

Dr. Hasan Abbas Zaheer, National Programme Manager-NBTP in his address outlined that according to WHO, Safe Blood Transfusion is a universal human right and provision of safe blood and blood components is the responsibility of the National Healthcare System. Pakistan has a fragmented Blood Transfusion system. Around 1.5 million units of blood are transfused annually whereas only 50 % of these blood bags are screened.  In developing countries, up to 150,000 pregnancy-related deaths can be avoided through safe blood transfusions. Unsafe blood transfusion remains a major but frequently neglected contributor to the global spread of HIV and Hepatitis B & C. 

Dr. Zaheer further informed that WHO recommends the establishment of sustainable national blood programmes that can ensure the provision of safe, high quality blood and blood products that are accessible to all patients requiring transfusion and their safe and appropriate use.

Blood transfusion on one hand can be life saving but on the other hand it is life threading. The factors responsible for the poor blood transfusion services in Pakistan includes; Low priority in the health sector; Lack of quality assurance and accreditation system; Absence of donor management system and lack of uniform national legislation.

He said that most of the blood banks are hospital based. The absence of national coordinated blood transfusion service, the access to safe blood for transfusion is poor.

The fragmented blood transfusion system in the country is actually promoting unsafe transfusion and it can be corrected. There is need to have blood transfusion service in the country as practiced and recommended by the international guidelines.

The Regional Blood Centres are new concept for Pakistan but has been practiced internationally and proven to be very effective. These Regional Centres will be serving as a centre to manufacture blood components and will also help in mobilizing voluntary blood donors and other related works.

The challenges to blood donor program includes; Operationalization of newly established national blood programme; Promulgation of safe blood transfusion legislation at national and provincial level which is very important to ensure safe blood supply and operationalization of blood transfusion regulatory authority.

Peter Heimer, Technical Expert on VNRBD presented an overview of “Global Perspective of Voluntary Non-Remunerated Blood Donation”. He informed the participants that there are about 45.4% of donations in developing countries, 10.1% in transactional countries and 3.6% in developed countries.

Currently, there are 93 million blood donations per year in 173 countries. 50% donations are in developed countries by 16% population whereas 50% donations are in transitional and developing countries by 84% of the population.

Regarding voluntary blood donation, he said that 62 countries report almost 100% voluntary blood donation whereas 45 countries report on less than 25%. In Pakistan the percentage of voluntary blood donors in less than 10 – 15%.

He was of the view that 8% of all blood donations are collected from donors under the age of 25 years. Young donors are the most important target group for donor motivation. Voluntary blood donors have a lower prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis as compare to replacement or paid donors.

There are four institutions involved in blood donor and donor recruitment which includes; World Health Organization, International Federation of Red Cross, International Society of Blood Transfusion and International Federation of Blood Donor Association. They are responsible for celebrating World Blood Donor Day every year on June 14.

The joint mission of WHO and IFRC is to achieve 100% Voluntary Non-Remunerated Blood Donor globally. They have jointly developed global framework for action and task to achieve 100% VNRBD. The joint principal of all organization are based on so-called code of essence i.e. donation should be voluntary and non-remunerated.

This is need to have a national working group on VNRBD in Pakistan which will hold regular meetings and workshops trainings for donor recruiters.

Prof. Mehfooz ur Rehman, Provincial BT Manager from Punjab briefed the participants about the situation of blood transfusion programme in Punjab. He said that Provincial Govt has established an institute with the aim to create human resources in the Blood Transfusion Programme and started with a Diploma Program in Blood Transfusion and Training of Blood Bank Staff.

He said that in Punjab, there are 34 district headquarter hospital blood units, 8 regional blood units, 20 teaching hospital blood units and 60 are at Tehsil level units. In all, 30 are under the provincial administration and District Administration is looking after 93. All the control has been given to them except screening of blood and supply of kits that remains centralized with institutes, he added.

According to a Survey in Punjab in 2005 shows that there are about 1112 private sector blood banks and 107 NGO based. Our target is to provide safe blood and blood products for patients from VNRBD obtained through organized blood transfusion service that provide timely supply, prevent transfusion of diseases and shows quality in all operational activities.

The issues and challenges in Punjab include establishment of a cadre of BT personnel and development of human resource, and development of infrastructure. Punjab is facing severe shortage of blood transfusion staff. It should be of prime importance in blood transfusion. There is also need to realize blood transfusion as a separate specialty.

Dr. Zahid Ansari of Sindh informed that Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority was constituted in 1998 and its function is to adopt and dissolve the uniform policy covering all aspects of safe blood transfusion and giving registration and licensing to the blood banks, fixing charges, ensuring bio-safety measures according to WHO guidelines, monitoring and working of blood bank.

Majority objectives of the authority are to regulate blood transfusion service as in the act, to organize and establish provincial blood transfusion service in the public sector and to register the public/private and NGOs based blood banks.

The objective of the programme that the SBTA is running is to provide quality based transfusion service ensuring adequate supply of safe blood to the province.

To establish safe blood transfusion service, there is need to have strict guidelines and registration criteria. He also mentioned about the recommendation they have proposed to the federal blood transfusion act.

Dr. Nabila Metwalli, Advisor WHO in EMRO spoke on EMRO experience especially club-25. She appreciated the recent efforts to improve the transfusion sector in Pakistan. She said that it will be very huge challenge to develop 100% VNRBD based blood transfusion services in Pakistan. But this is not impossible and all stakeholders should work to achieve this.

Dr. Levent Sadgur from Turkish Red Crescent briefed about the strategies they have adapted to achieve 100% VNRBD in Turkey. He also gave an outline of the media campaigns they have done to reach their target groups.

Dr. Mahtab Maghsudlu, Manager Donor Recruitment Programme, Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization, shared the IBTO experience and role of research in the donor recruitment programme.

Peter Heimer in his concluding remarks emphasized on the need to perform activities including Development of donor register, Training of donor management staff, Development of communication strategy, Development of publicity campaign supported by MoH, National Blood Transfusion Program and media, Establishment of a mechanism for planning, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of donor requirement activities and Establishing management information system for National Blood Transfusion Program including donor database.

There is need to development of information for potential voluntary blood donor information education at school. This is a possibility to approach young people, he added.

Earlier, Paul Kohorst Team Leader GTZ TA Team in his concluding remarks appreciated the efforts of National Blood Transfusion Program and GTZ Health Program.

He stressed on financial cooperation team who will take up the component and address the social marketing campaign to achieve the change of paradigm in Pakistan from replacement donor to voluntary donor.

Others who spoke on the occasion includes; Prof. Fazle Raziq, BT Manager KPK, Dr. Sher Zaman, BT Manager Balochistan, Dr. Abdul Latif, BT Focal Person, Gilgit Baltistan, Dr. Irum Gillani, BT Manager AJK, Dr. Asma Cheema, Joint Director, Pakistan Red Crescent, and Dr. Sarfraz Jaffri, Project Director, Husaini Blood Bank. The workshop concluded with certificate distribution amongst the speakers.

2017-04-26T12:35:31+00:00