By Prince J. Musa in Kenema
The blood bank at the Kenema Government Hospital is facing severe shortage of blood testing kits, Politico has learnt.
As a result of the shortage, the hospital cannot do blood transfusion for patients coming to the hospital. The situation is especially crucial for pregnant women who need blood on standby when they come to deliver their babies.
“As it is, we do not do any blood test because there is no test kits at the center,’’ Lahai Monina Sama, a laboratory technician at the hospital, told Politico.
Sama said the supply the hospital gets is way short of what they need.
“Two hundred test kits is given to the center per month, but we receive clients over five hundred monthly. Therefore, our priority areas for the limited test kits are maternity and pediatric wards for pregnant women and children which is free of cost,” he said.
Sama said the problem started from June last year, until December when he got some extra supplies from a colleague in Kono.
The laboratory conduct tests for diseases like HIV and Hepathitis. The shortage means they cannot do so until patients buy their own kits and bags.
Abdulai Bockarie, who oversees voluntary blood donation at the hospital, said: “We have stopped testing for blood because we can’t allow people to donate blood for their patients without testing. ‘’
The decision to stop blood transfusion could be fatal for patients who will desperately need one. As an alternative for now, patients have been referred to pharmacies to buy the test kits for themselves.
The district supervisor of HIV, Abdul James, who is attached to the hospital, confirmed that there was scarcity of HIV test kits. But he said they were hoping to get more shortly.
“We do supply the blood bank with test kits quarterly but due to limited test kits we only focus on those admitted in the hospital,’’ he said.
But the PHU’s (Public Health Unit) have some test kits,
James said a lot of kits are used on World Aids days, and he believed that could be the reason for the shortage of test kits.
Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Ibrahim Kapuwa, also confirmed the shortage. He said they were working on alternatives to remedy the situation.
“It is finished in government stores. But we are trying to get other alternatives like talking to our NGO partners to help us with some kits, until government supply comes through,” Kapuwa said.
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