Blood transfusion services to be expanded to all regional hospitals

For more than two years, the coronavirus pandemic has directly impacted the number of persons donating blood in Guyana, now the Health Ministry is focusing on having blood transfusion services in all regional hospitals.
Pre-COVID, some 12,000 to 14,000 units of blood were donated every year. In 2021, only 9000 units were reportedly contributed to the Blood Bank. Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Thursday attributed this to persons avoiding health facilities during the life-threatening pandemic.
“(The number of) people coming forward to do voluntary donation dropped a little bit. We are encouraging people, and we have several campaigns to increase the blood donation. We’re mindful that we had a decrease, and we’re working actively to see how we can get more people donating…I think, generally, people are avoiding health institutions, so now that we’re returning to some sense of normalcy, I think we’ll get back people coming to donate,” he underscored.
Blood can be donated at the Georgetown Public Hospital, New Amsterdam Hospital and the West Demerara Regional Hospital, and there are plans to expand this facility to the Suddie Hospital and Linden Hospital Complex in the future. The strategy is to have blood donation and transfusion services in all regional hospitals, while maintaining mobile operations.
“We have a central blood bank that is located in the compound of the Georgetown Hospital. We have been working actively to expand blood transfusion services to other parts of the country… Rather than having a few fixed points and doing a lot of mobile work, we are increasing the amount of fixed points where people can come in and donate, and at the same time maintaining our mobile work activity, where we can go to special areas and be able to collect blood,” he said
The Government of Guyana bears 100 per cent of the cost for blood products’ transfusion in the public health sector. This means that anyone receiving care at the GPHC or at any of the public hospitals is entitled to receiving blood products at no cost to them and/or their families.
Since 2001, Guyana has adopted a 100 per cent voluntary donation programme for blood. Since that time, family members are not asked to donate blood before blood products are provided for transfusion. The process of blood transfusion takes about 15 minutes, and a unit of blood can only be kept for 35 days, after which it must be disposed of.
Generally, blood transfusions are needed for a wide range of health conditions, including anaemia, complications during pregnancy and childbirth, severe trauma due to accidents, and surgical procedures.
The World Health Organization has outlined, “Blood transfusion saves lives and improves health, but many patients requiring transfusion do not have timely access to safe blood. Providing safe and adequate blood should be an integral part of every country’s national health care policy and infrastructure.”
The Organisation recommends that all activities related to blood collection, testing, processing, storage and distribution must be coordinated at the national level through effective organisation and integrated blood supply networks. The national blood system should be governed by a national blood policy and legislative framework to promote uniform implementation of standards and consistency in the quality and safety of blood and blood products. (G12)