Ministry rules out stock out of blood ahead of election

Kenya will not be hit by stock out of blood reagents even as the country heads to the General Election.

The Kenya National Blood Transfusion Service, the agency tasked with the collection of blood in the country, said there are enough reagents in the country, in a move that is also aimed at ensuring that enough blood is donated ahead of elections.

“Right now we do not anticipate a stock out in reagents if blood were to be collected today en masse and we have already done the forecast and saying this is an election year, we need to have a sense of emergency preparedness,” KNBTS boss Nduku Kilonzo noted.

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a reduction of blood-related activities in the region including Kenya, with the World Health organization calling on countries to put more emphasis on preparedness plans for health emergencies and the need to maintain bloodstock.

The global health agency estimates that the pandemic led to a 20 per cent to 30 per cent reduction of blood supply in all its six regions with Kenya reporting a 44.2 per cent drop between 2019 and 2020.

The blood drives conducted in 2020 were just 378 in 2020, a drop from 1,613 in 2019, representing a 76.6 per cent drop.

“In the countries with reduced blood donations, lockdown orders, donor anxiety and fear of COVID-19 infection during blood donation, which often stems from popular misconceptions and misinformation, have hindered blood donors from accessing blood transfusion services,” a WHO survey conducted in September 2020 said.

Kenya has been struggling with blood shortages.

The country requires between 500,000 to one million units of blood a year, yet collects less than a quarter of that volume.

The Covid-19 pandemic worsened the shortage crisis as people shunned going to hospitals, coupled with closure of colleges and schools.

Currently, Kenya has at least 30 satellite centres spread across the 47 counties with six Regional Blood Transfusion Centres (RBTCs) in Nairobi, Embu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu and Mombasa.

“Being able to deliver safe blood includes the commodities, the processing, the reagents, the transportation and storage and the distribution systems that will make sure that the blood reaches and is safe to the patient at transfusion level,” Nduku said.

Reports of blood donated in the country being sold to neighbouring Somalia further complicates the situation, with Kenyans losing trust in the process.

The poor donation culture worsened by the effects of the pandemic made an already bad situation works.

“Blood is now readily available in our regional blood banks and facilities in need of blood can do a requisition. The ministry has embarked on strengthening accountability mechanisms through a phased approach,” Kagwe said.

Simialry, the government has disclosed that plans are underway to acquire an additional four apheresis machines to boost surgery and treatment outcomes in the country.

These are machines that receive donated blood and separate it into its various components such as plasma, platelets, white blood cells and red blood cells.

Depending on the reason for apheresis, one of these components is isolated and collected by the instrument, while the others are returned to the body.

Currently, there are four apheresis machines located in Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu with an estimated six found in the private sector.

Kilonzo said the move is aimed at ensuring that blood is not used full hence reaching more people.

“Usually when you talk about cancers, burns treatment, and hemophilia, you need different components and it is more efficient if you give somebody the component they need,” Kilonzo said.

Fresh platelets are really good for surgery and it is estimated that in the private sector in Kenya today, fresh platelets donation costs between Sh30,000 to Sh40,000.

The country needs at least one million pints of blood every year, leaving a huge gap that needs urgent intervention.