Blood donation centers of ministry of health hold annual meeting

Dr. Amin Amiri Assistant Undersecretary for Medical Practice and License, Chairman of Supreme National Blood Transfusion Committee chaired the annual meeting of the Blood Donation Centers of the Ministry of Health in the presence of the officials of Sharjah Blood Transfusion and Research Center and blood banks. The meeting was aimed at unifying policies at the blood donation centers and upgrading their performance level in line with the international standards, and as per the directives of Abdul Rahman bin Mohammed Al Owais, Minister of Health. Dr. Amin gave a presentation on the MoH strategy for the improvement of health care services in the country, especially the blood donation which is an important element and U.A.E. maintains a distinguished repute globally in this field. He also affirmed the important role played by the Sharjah Blood Transfusion and Research Centre regionally and globally in providing training for the blood transfusion services, consequently, the blood banks at the Ministry of Health should take advantage from the expertise and services in the center in order to raise the standard of services at all blood banks of the ministry. It was also agreed that the center will set the accredited work standards in order to be applied at Blood Banks of MoH. Dr. Amin also discussed the increase in the number of private hospitals, health services development and its expansion, which led to increase the demand on blood and its components. He also directed all blood banks at the MoH hospitals to participate in the blood transfusion from the donors in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of the patients, in addition to supporting Sharjah Blood Transfusion and Research Centre. The center, now, is providing services to over 44 government and private hospitals, thus, the staff who are responsible at the blood donation centers should organise blood donations drives on regular basis. The meeting also discussed the importance of monthly statistics that should be sent to the Sharjah Blood Transfusion and Research Centre on monthly basis, as well as organising training workshops for staff in blood banks for proper cataloging of reports. Later, the head of Laboratory section will review and approve the statistics before sending them to the Sharjah Blood Transfusion and Research Centre. Dr. Amin underscored the importance of starting a reporting system to deal with any kind medical emergency during or after blood transfusion to the patients. He also added that the system will start at the beginning of 2014, based on the monthly statistics sent by blood banks at MoH hospitals to Sharjah Blood Transfusion and Research Centre. He emphasised the importance of reporting and blogging accidents in an accurate and continuous way. The Sharjah Blood Transfusion Services and Research Centre will organise a training workshop on vigilance in blood transfusion medicine.