New contractors to resume stalled work on blood transfusion centres
KARACHI: The construction work on four regional blood transfusion centres (RBTCs) in Sindh, which had come to a stop for a while after its contractor backed out in finishing stages is expected to resume next month, according to officials in the provincial health department.
It was expected earlier that three of the four RBTCs would be completed in coming few months but even after the contractors’ change the officials expected the delay would not be long.
“The three RBTCs will be ready by the second half of this year except for the one in Sukkur, which will be ready by December or January next year,” said Dr Zahid Hasan Ansari, secretary of the Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority.
He said that after the previous contractor backed out, new tenders were issued and new contractors had been engaged to finish the four buildings in Karachi, Jamshoro, Nawabshah and Sukkur.
The plan was envisaged four years ago as part of a nationwide safe-blood transfusion programme with the financial assistance of Germany — GIZ and KFW (German development bank).
Serving as the blood procurement and distribution point, the Karachi centre, like the 12 other centres planned across the country, would be linked to at least six hospital-based blood banks (HBBBs).
The hospitals are: Sindh govt hospitals in Lyari, Liaquatabad, New Karachi, Saudabad, Korangi and the Civil Hospital Karachi, said officials.
At a meeting of the steering committee, which included provincial officials, federal government and foreign donors, held on Friday in Karachi, the officials concerned said the project was part of the federal government’s safe blood transfusion project with grant assistance from the government of Germany aiming at establishing the National Blood Transfusion Services.
The meeting was informed that the projects in Sindh would not be delayed by more than a month as new contractors had already been engaged.
The officials said the centre would mobilise voluntary blood donors and conduct processing, screening, testing, component preparation and storage of blood and ultimately feed the HBBBs linked to it.
Among its main functions are; collection of blood only from voluntary non-remunerated blood donations at low risk of acquiring transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs); ensuring 100pc quality assured testing of all donated blood for TTIs, including HIV, hepatitis B and C viruses, syphilis, malaria and blood group serology, compatibility, etc; promotion of rational and appropriate clinical use of blood; promotion of principles of ‘haemovigilance’; and development of human resource (technical and managerial) to ensure adequate numbers of qualified and trained staff in the blood transfusion field, they said.
New contractors to resume stalled work on blood transfusion centres - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
