Story by Nathaniel Nartey.
A National Strategy for screening donated Blood and Immuno hematological Testing has been launched in Accra. The document is expected to streamline blood donation and testing going forward.
The launch is in response to the lack of uniformity in blood testing and transfusion among health facilities in the country. Chief Executive officer of the National Blood Service, Dr. Justina Ansah believes given the policy, the lack of uniformity in that regard will be a thing of the past.
The National Strategy for screening donated Blood and Immuno-haematological Testing is a follow up to the National Blood Policy launched in January last year. It is aimed at improving the process of blood donation in the country. The latest policy document is centered on four areas including management of the donor as well as management of the donated blood. CEO of the National Blood Service Dr. Justina Ansah explained that quality of testing blood transfusion is paramount in the policy document.
“All blood needs to be screened for all the transfusion transmissible infections, that is the infections that can be transferred through the blood from the donor to the recipient. So, this document looks at standardising the testing across country”
Director of Technical Coordination at the Ministry of Health Dr. Mrs. Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt who launched the policy document on behalf of the sector minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu was hopeful that the national strategy for screening donated Blood and Immuno-haematological Testing will give birth to uniformity in the sector.
“You can have the blood but if it is not given out properly, it can lead to death so it is important that this strategy has come at this point in time to ensure that we have value for money for blood donation and usage”.
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