Africa-Press – Uganda. Officials of Mbale Regional Blood Bank have blamed shortage of blood for transfusion at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital on wastage.
However, the director of the hospital has said an increase in the number of malaria cases and other infections caused the shortage.
In a recent interview with Daily Monitor, Dr Ahmed Bumba, the manager of Mbale Blood Bank, said: “There is wastage of blood at the hospital due to inability of the hospital to transfuse blood to the right patients as a result of poor prescription.”
He added that they have learnt that instead of medical doctors, assistant nurses and medical students are prescribing blood transfusion.
“The training students lack the skills to test for the level of haemoglobin before prescription,” Dr Bumba said.
He added that blood transfusion should be prescribed to a patient with haemoglobin level 6 or below.
“There is also lack of separation of bags of blood for adults and children, which leads to wastage. For example, a child only needs about 100 or 200mls of blood and a bag contains 800mls, meaning after using the 200mls, the remaining is disposed of,” Dr Bumba said.
He said they increased the supply of blood to the hospital to about 1,000 units from 700 monthly, but the hospital still complains of shortage.
But Dr Emmanuel Tugaineyo, the director of Mbale hospital, dismissed the allegations, saying he is not aware of students making prescriptions.
“I refute this, unless they give us evidence. If they do, we will have to carry out an investigation and if found to be true, the culprits will be penalised,” he said.
Dr Tugaineyo added: “We are running short of blood supply due to increase in malaria and other infection cases. There is much need for blood since many children are suffering from malaria, anemia and sickle cells.”
However, a local council officer and several residents backed the claim by Mbale Regional Blood Bank.
Mr Isaac Woniala, a councillor of Industrial City Division, said there are reports of interns prescribing wrong medications to patients.
“The interns prescribe medication including blood transfusion to patients in the absence of doctors. This is a fact and it should not be denied,” he said.
Mr John Khagege, a resident of Nkoma in Northern City Division, claimed he lost his child due to wrong prescription of blood last year.
“The doctors should be careful, especially when it comes to blood transfusion because any mistake made can lead to loss of life. Sometimes, the interns transfuse more blood than what is required,” he said.
Mbale Blood Bank needs 4,000 units of blood a month to serve Karamoja, Teso, Sebei, Bugisu, Bukedi and Busoga sub-regions but this has been affected by coronavirus-induced restrictions in the past two years.
Mbale hospital serves Busia, Tororo, Butaleja, Pallisa, Butebo, Bududa, Manafwa, Namisindwa, Mbale Sironko, Bulambuli, Kapchorwa, Bukwo, and Kween districts.
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