Doctors have been advised to always consult the Centre for Blood Transfusion (NCBT) or blood experts before administering blood transfusion to patients in critical condition. The head of division National Centre for Blood Transfusion (NCBT), Dr Swaibu Gatare, made the call ahead of Saturday’s World Blood Donor Day. The appeal followed reports of loss of lives in different hospitals across the country arising from poor prescription of the relevant blood type for parents during emergencies. “The problem is that doctors in hospitals do not consult blood experts during emergencies. For example if someone is O negative and is in critical condition, we can recommend them to be given O positive blood. However, for the cases of mothers we give them an additional drug to avoid the side effects it may have. But often you find doctors are not aware of such treatment,” Gatare said during a news briefing in Kigali on Wednesday. “We have received several complaints regarding inappropriate use of blood, an example is a case of a mother who died at one of the hospitals in the country because the hospital prescribed a wrong blood group for her. If the doctors had consulted us early enough she could still be alive,” Gatare added. Gatare said that to enhance communication between doctors and the transfusion centre, they had embarked on a hospital based training project where they train doctors in blood transfusion. The move is aimed at minimising cases of inappropriate blood use as well as bridge the communication gap between hospitals and the transfusion centre. Gatare’s call is in line with this year’s theme for the World Blood Donor Day which is “Safe blood for saving mothers”. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) every day, about 800 women die from pregnancy or child birth-related complications in developing countries. Severe bleeding during delivery and after child birth was cited as a major cause of mortality, morbidity and long term disability. Last year, Rwanda collected over 43,074 units of blood from volunteers which Gatare said helped save lives of patients. He explained that most of the blood collection in the country goes to the obstetrics and gynecology departments. The national celebrations will be held in Kansi sector, Gisagara District in the Southern Province and will seek to raise awareness on the need for safe blood transfusion as well as recognise the voluntary donors for their life saving gift of blood. To offer effective and efficient service delivery, NCBT has got over 450 collection sites and five regional blood centres in Kigali, Rwamagana, Butare, Ruhengeri and Karongi districts. For one to be eligible to donate blood, they have to be between 18 -65 years of age and must at least have 50 kilos and above with no health complications.
