Faults in the thalassaemia blood bank ruins blood packets

A number of blood packets have been ruined due to a fault in one of the storage fridges in the Thalassaemia Centre. The centre has asked the parents of their patients to find new blood.

Two of the four fridges currently being used to store blood packets are broken. The fridge that broke down on Thursday had 17 blood packets stored, and was repaired yesterday. The two fridges that are currently functioning can store up to 200 packets of blood per fridge.

Deputy Director General of Thalassaemia Centre Abdul Gafoor Adam said today that a technical fault had caused the temperature to rise in the one of the two fridges, and that 17 packets of blood had to be disposed. He said that following the problem, some patients were unable to receive blood yesterday and that their parents have now been notified to find new blood.

He said that some of the packets that had to be disposed were obtained by parents on request, and some were obtained by conducting blood camps. He said that this was the first time such an incident had occurred and that “such things” can happen.

“There was a sudden technical problem to the fridge. The temperature of the fridge, in which we had stored blood, had gone up. So we have to dispose of them. When the problem arose, we sought out repairmen and the fridge is now repaired,” Abdul Gafoor Adam said.

In answer to complaints by parents towards the services provided by the free medical service centre, which currently caters to over 250 thalassaemia patients in Male’, Abdul Gafoor said that problems are bound to arise in a place that provides free healthcare. He said the centre will always work towards solving the simplest problem promptly, and to allow their children to seek their services with ease.

“There will be a lot of problems in a place that provides everything for free. I am saying this reflecting on long time I have spent in the healthcare field. There will be problems here as well. That is a true notion. We are fixing those problems,” Abdul Gafoor said.