Dr. Lakshman Edirisinghe, Director, National Blood Bank, said although a decrease in the blood reserves in the Central Blood Bank is currently observed, there is enough supplies of blood components required for all patients undergoing emergency surgery, accidents and life-threatening injuries.
He was speaking at a press conference held at the Government Information Department Auditorium yesterday (26) on “Management of Supply in National Blood Transfusions”.
A 100% import-dependent service network may threaten the national blood supply due to a shortage of foreign exchange reserves, but the national blood supply network has not yet reached the zero supply level, he said.
However, supplies have plummeted. Therefore, it has been decided to manage the overall supplies with the consent of all the specialists representing the 24 clusters of clinical operations across the country and the blood transfusion management.
There are four types of blood packets used to obtain blood from donors. At present, there is not enough Triple Blood Bags type blood packets. The situation can be managed for another a month or a month and a half with the other types of blood packets, the official said.
Deliveries are due in the first week of this month. Once they are received on time, it is possible to continue the service as before, he added.
Therefore, management of the blood supply for patients who should be given priority is expected to be a priority until the end of next week.
Limited reserves are expected to be provided for accidents, emergency surgeries, kidney transplants, thalassemia patients and patients with life-threatening ailments.
The national blood requirement requires about 400,000 units of blood per year, with an average of 1200-1400 blood packets per day. Due to the shortage of surgeries, the daily requirement is now between 1100-1200 packets of blood. About 1000 blood donors donate blood on an average day.
Dr. Senarath Jayasekara, Senior Consultant Specialist in Blood Transfusion also participated in this press conference.