By Susana Quijada
The lack of blood bags, blood classifiers and reagents are the main deficiencies of this service in the healthcare centers of this state.
According to what was reported by the head of the blood bank at the “El Tigre” hospital, Fernando Guevara, in this state currently this service is not operational in public healthcare centers and even in some private ones due to the lack of supplies.
Guevara indicated that since November he has been warning the authorities about this deficiencies in “El Tigre’s” hospital.
Lino Rojas, a doctor attached to the blood bank of the “El Tigre” hospital, recalled that when this type of deficit was registered on previous occasions, they received help from the Industrial Hospital of San Tomé, but it is currently under the same situation.
“Since last weekend we no longer have blood to be able to care for our patients within the institution and we have found ourselves in the urgent need to deny this service to everyone because we do not have blood products, frozen plasma, red blood cell concentrates and much less platelets,” said Rojas.
The hematologist indicated that due to this situation, attention to blood donors and elective surgeries have been suspended.
“The consequences are that patients who are on hemodialysis and patients who are critically ill who need a transfusion will receive limited care and will not be able to receive transfusions and we will have to recur to alternative medicine, iron supplements or evacuate some patients with heart failure,” explained Rojas.
Given the deficit registered by this service, patients are forced to go to private healthcare centers where the cost of a bag of blood ranges between 150 and 200 U.S. dollars.
