The Institute of Blood Transfusion Services (IBTS) is facing problems in preserving blood due to outdated machinery in its blood banks, Daily Times has learnt.
Currently, there are at least 22 hospitals in different cities of Punjab where IBTS have established blood banks. Out of the 22 blood banks, 15 are present in Lahore, three in Rawalpindi, two in Faisalabad while each in Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur.
IBTS claims that all the blood banks are providing free services round the clock to all the admitted patients in hospitals.
Sources said that to preserve the blood each blood bank is supposed to be equipped with refrigerators, blood storage cabinets, blood bags, plasma freezers for red cell and white cell plasma, refrigerated centrifuge, platelet agitator and others. They said that the equipment in most of the hospitals have been lying outdated and dysfunctional owing to which preserving blood has become a challenge. “Most of the time, blood bank staff has to refuse donors due to lacking facility of blood preservation. This is also common practice in blood banks of disposing off the blood bags into waste bins,” they added.
According to details, in many blood banks plasma freezers are lying dysfunctional since 2014. Blood storage cabinet is the most essential part of any blood bank, but in many blood banks these are lying dysfunctional since 2003. The official document reveals that most of the equipment in blood banks were procured or installed over 30 years ago. Sources said that all the blood banks have been informing the authorities regarding their respective issues but their issues remained unsolved. “Due to lack of machinery, blood has to be stored in private blood banks.”
IBTS director Dr Qanbar Zia while admitting the outdated machinery in blood banks told Daily Times that an inquiry has been initiated to find out the reasons. He refused to comment any further in this regard.