adminThe development occurred amid revelations that NBSZ is battling to replenish the country’s blood stocks following the high demand that was experienced during the last Christmas and New Year Holidays.
In an interview yesterday, the public affairs manager for NBSZ, Ms Ester Massundah, said shortage of skilled personnel and blood ordering patterns were also to blame for the loss. “Of the 15 732 units of blood that were collected last year, almost 20 percent expired, especially blood group A, B and AB because these groups have a low demand,” said Ms Massundah.
“We lost such a huge amount of blood last year because most hospitals were ordering blood group O. This is because 50 percent of the population of Zimbabwe is in blood group O. Blood units have shelf life of four weeks and if blood units are not ordered during that period we discard the blood despite the fact that we are experiencing a serious shortage of blood,” said Ms Massundah.
She said some of the factors that led to blood expiring had to do with the storage and other technicalities.
“There is a high demand for blood group O and at the end of the day the other blood groups expire and we throw the blood away. We can however not turn away donors that are not in group O,” she said.
The branch manager for NBSZ Bulawayo, Mr Mawere Muchineuta, said erratic power supplies were impacting negatively on blood stocks.
“Our branch supplies the whole of Matabeleland region with blood and most of the rural hospitals have no suitable facilities to store the blood.
“The issue of power supplies affects us in that there is a standard temperature for the storage of blood. Most hospitals have no emergency facilities like generators, blood haemolyses, so when there is a power cut, red blood cells break up and the blood becomes unsafe for patients,” said Mr Muchineuta.
He said the standard temperature for storing blood was six to eight degrees Celsius and since power cuts usually lasted six to eight hours, blood was bound to go bad. “If blood goes bad after a power cut, we have no option but to throw it away,” he said.
Mr Muchineuta said there was need for the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to upgrade equipment and human resources at hospitals in order to guarantee patients safe and adequate blood.
The country usually experiences blood shortages during public holidays when the demand for blood shoots up as a result of mainly increased road traffic accidents.
Journalists recently launched a blood collection campaign following the death of veteran journalist Freedom Moyo, who died because there was no blood group for him to get a transfusion.
He bled excessively following injuries he sustained in a traffic accident.
Online Reporter