Blood transfusion has become an integral part of healthcare and medical practice. It is important that blood is available within very short notice and blood banks must have an adequate supply of safe blood to meet demands. This can be achieved only when healthy people donate blood regularly. As blood is vital for life and can only be obtained from human source it is our responsibility to disseminate information to the public as to how it is procured, and how it helps to save lives in order to motivate them to come forward to donate blood regularly.
The World Blood Donor Day is officially designated as an annual event and is celebrated annually on June 14 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Karl Landsteiner, the noble prize winner for discovering ABO blood group system.
This year's theme is "Giving blood regularly". This highlights how voluntary non-remunerated blood donation can help to save lives of patient as there is no substitute for human blood.
Why people have to donate blood regularly:
Blood is an elixir of life and one man's blood is another man's life. Blood transfusion is essential to save the lives of patients following accidents, for major surgery, during child birth and for new born babies with haemolytic disease, cancer patients and also for patients who are on red cell transfusion support such as thalassaemia, haemophilia and other blood related disorders.
What are the blood types?
There are four types of ABO blood group A, B, O and AB and they are identified as positive or negative depending upon the presence and absence of the ABO antigen. This information is important because your blood type and Rhesus group must be compatible with the blood recipients. Most common blood groups among Bruneians are O and B. The Rhesus D negative blood is comparatively rare in Brunei population.
Blood components and its functions:
Blood consists of cellular and fluid component.
The cellular component consists of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. The red blood cells carry oxygen to the tissues.
The white blood cells protect us against invading organisms.
The platelets help in clotting of blood to prevent bleeding.
The fluid component is the plasma in which the cellular portions are suspended. The plasma consists of water, electrolytes, proteins, immune globulins and coagulation factors.
In transfusion services, whole blood was the only product available at one time. Now with modern transfusion medicine, the requirement of whole blood transfusion is very limited since majority of patients do not require all the components of blood as they may be deficient in one or two components only.
In recent times the major advance in transfusion service is the development of component therapy with the introduction of blood bags with the integral tubing and development of technology for the separation of blood components. So one unit of blood can be given to three to four patients to provide safe blood component indicated therapeutically. The blood component like platelet can be taken directly from the donor leaving the other components within the donor by aphaeresis method by using the cell separator equipment. This is being done as transfusion practice.
The blood components prepared in the blood collection centre at RIPAS Hospital are as follows.
Packed red cells
Fresh frozen plasma
Platelets
Cryoprecipitate All the blood components are stored within predefined conditions which assures the maintenance of quality and hence safety.
What is safe blood?
Voluntary and non-remunerated blood donation is considered to be safe. Blood is considered safe if the donor is not suffering from diseases that can be transmitted through blood transfusion. The infections that can be transmitted through blood transfusion include hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV and syphilis. If any of these are found positive the donors are contacted for counseling and referred to the respective specialist for advice and treatment.
The blood transfusion services enforce screening guidelines and eligibility requirement to make sure that donating blood will not harm the donor as well as the recipient.
The public should be aware of the fact that blood is transfused to the patient only after screening the blood for the above diseases and after compatibility is confirmed.
Blood donation process
There are four steps in blood donation process:
1. Registration
On arrival the donor is received by our staff and registered. He/she is given a questionnaire form regarding his health and previous donation if any. The donor must be healthy at the time of donation.
2. Blood Test
3. A blood test is done for the donor to ensure that his haemoglobin level is within healthy range. When the donor passes all the tests he proceeds to donate blood.
4. Limited medical evaluation
Health assessment will be performed by the medical officer. Recording of the pulse, blood pressure etc will be done.
5. Donation of Blood
The donor is given a local anesthetic prior to the donation to prevent pain. Actual donation takes only 10 to 15 minutes. But the whole process takes one hour from the arrival time to refreshment.
The volume of blood collected is 450ml ie 8-9 per cent of your blood volume.
New sterile equipments are used for each donor so there is no risk of contacting blood borne infection. After completion of your donation the donors are given refreshments and advised to rest for 15-20 minutes.
Within 24 hours of blood donation our body replaces the lost fluids and after a few weeks the body replaces the red blood cells.
Donor eligibility to donate blood:
Donors must meet the following specific requirements.
Age of the donor must be between 18-60 years of age.
Weight should not be less than 50kg.
The donor should pass the physical and health assessment by the medical officer. Donors not eligible to donate blood:
People positive for the following diseases:
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis C
HIV
Syphilis
People suffering from hypertension, diabetes and cardiac diseases
Donors with history of bleeding disorders are refrained from donating blood.
Advice following blood donation:
Drink plenty of water
Avoid strenuous exercise or games for 24 hours
Avoid smoking for 4-6 hours Benefits of blood donation:
The most outstanding benefit is his or her contribution to humanity
Studies and clinical research has shown that there is reduced risk of heart attack among repeat donors who are non-smokers (this is due to depletion of iron which has been shown to damage the heart muscle). Blood donation activity in Brunei Darussalam
The blood collection centre is a humanitarian organisation that brings people together to help patients. Blood collection centre functions both as a mobile and walk in donor unit. By facilitating the blood donors in our community, it will create awareness among the public particularly the younger generation to come forward to donate blood and this will form an invisible chain of network of donors. The month of Ramadan goes on record as being one of the slowest donation periods. It is during this month other non-Muslim donors should come forward to donate blood.
The Ministry of Health has provided some incentives as a token of gratitude. The maintenance of blood supply depends entirely on the generosity of those who donate blood regularly. So donating blood should not be confined to, only during crisis, but should be a regular ongoing process. It is a credit to everyone here in Brunei as the balance between blood supply and demand has been managed so well up to now. Various efforts are taken to expand donor pool.
The Ministry of Health is keen in fulfilling the objective of establishing a coordinated blood transfusion service that can provide adequate and timely supply of blood for all patients in need. A reliable and expanded donor pool will not only provide a life saving therapy but also improve safety. Ministry of Health provides resources to ensure that essential supplies are available including blood bags, blood group reagent, and test kits.
All blood donations are tested by approved technology. More tests are going to be introduced in future. It is the hope that in designating one special day in each year to celebrate the role of blood donors in health care, a new generation of blood donors will follow their example thereby providing constant supply of safe blood. This event will be a landmark in improving regular voluntary blood donation and act as a stepping stone to achieve a certain percentage of regular voluntary non-remunerated blood donors.
It is a community service and nothing is as fulfilling as saving the lives of many by donating blood.
Source: Borneo Bulletin Weekend - 14 June 2008
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