SANDAKAN – The district’s sole hospital may be running low on blood supply amid rising Covid-19 cases and possible tighter travel restrictions.
Hospital Duchess of Kent’s head of transfusion medicine Dr Sarah Mat Noh said the hospital’s blood bank relies heavily on donation campaigns conducted by other hospitals and private organisers.
She said the inter-district travel ban in Sabah called on October 3 and the rising of Covid-19 cases have started to affect the blood bank as palm oil estates no longer open their doors to healthcare personnel to conduct donation drive.
She added in previous years before the Covid-19 pandemic, 15% to 20% of the hospital’s blood supply is from campaigns conducted in palm oil estates in Sandakan, Beluran and Kinabatangan.
“About 10 estates were involved and each estate had a person in-charge of healthcare. So, we liaise with them to have all their workers gathered for donation drives two to three times a year.
“We would get up to 100 pints of blood from one campaign in an estate.”
She said she is concerned that the Covid-19 spike will worsen in Sandakan, and if a movement control order (MCO) is called, it will make it even more difficult to replenish blood supply in the hospital.
“Looking back at the situation during MCO in March, organisers stopped conducting blood donation campaigns and people stayed at home. Our blood supply dropped to a critical level.
“It has seriously affected our blood supply because 70% to 80% of our supply comes from mobile donation campaigns, while the rest are donors who come to the hospital.
“The hospital needs a steady supply of 150 pints of blood per week because we have continuous demand from thalassemia and blood cancer patients.
“Thalassemia patients who are dependent on blood transfusion need new supply every two weeks or a month.
“We should also have 50 pints of blood on standby for other urgent cases, such as massive bleeding after child delivery, accidents and so on.”
She said the supply must be continuous as a pint of blood can only last for 42 days.
She added if civil society groups are keen to conduct blood donation campaigns, now is the time to do so. – The Vibes, October 8, 2020
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