The Nigeria Blood Services Commission has accused some hospitals in Nigeria of using expired blood.
The Director-General, Omale Joseph, disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
Omale said that some hospitals transfuse expired blood to their patients. He added that others are selling blood donated by individuals to keep in their bank.
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The DG who commented on the passing of the National Blood Services Commission into law spoke on the importance of safe handling of blood.
He revealed that this malady in the health sector is a result of corruption. According to him, many officials in the hospital were trying to cheat the process of blood administration.
Omale revealed the validity and expiry date of safe blood. He said that the validity of blood expires 35 days after collection.
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The D-G was embittered at the fact that some persons have now commercialised blood donation at the rate of 20,000.
He, however, vowed that the new commission was out to end the wicked practices.
Omale revealed that blood banks and centres would be created in all 36 states and local governments.
His words: “A unit of blood it is taken out expires between 30 and 35 days. If you don’t transfuse this blood within that period and it gets to 35 days, it has to be thrown away. But people still keep them in their fridge and transfuse them.
“These are some of the things we are going to regulate. We are already regulating. We are also working to a point that blood will be everywhere in Nigeria. And one of the things we are doing is to initiate what we call the one million safe blood initiatives.
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He added: “Another area the Act would help is the issue of increasing the outlets where people can get blood. For example, you rarely get blood banks outside major hospitals. Most of the states are only making do with only one or two blood banks.
“The establishment of the commission would ensure that not only state governments and their big tertiary hospitals would have blood banks, but every local government should have at least a blood bank so that people in need would be able to access it easily and cheaply.”
He urged Nigerians to cultivate the habit of donating blood.
Meanwhile a member of the House of Assembly, Tajudeen Abass had spoken earlier about the bill. He said that President Buhari had assented to the bill.
His words, “The president has assented to the bill for the establishment of the Nigerian Blood Service Commission.
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“It is a very important milestone achieved in the medical sector of this country. Before the ascent of the president, the industry had been fragmented. It had been to a great extent, unregulated and not too coordinated and because of that, a lot of things are happening.”
Source: PUNCH HealthWise.
