Crisis as Coast blood bank runs dry

Reuben Mwambingu @reubenmwambingu

A crisis is looming in the Coast after it emerged there is a acute shortage of blood.

Coast Regional Blood Transfusion Centre (CRBTC) has said it is unable to collect enough blood from donors as a result of closure of learning institutions and banning of gatherings to curb spread of Covid-19.

CRBTC acting director Cleophas Wayodi regretted that although the centre is normally required to operate with a minimum of 1,000 units or pints of blood per week, they are currently operating with as low as 30 units per week which he says is way below the required standards.

“We are facing challenges in collecting blood in this centre. Closure of schools and colleges coupled with the Covid-19 restrictions has triggered new challenges because we are unable to run our blood donation drives normally…now we are forced to rely on volunteers who occasionally come here to donate blood,” he said.

Storage problems 

Before the pandemic, he said the centre would collect 1,000 pints per week, but after the pandemic struck, he says blood collection has fallen way below the target.

“We have been relying largely on volunteers to come here and donate blood and from that, we normally get up to 30 pints which is not enough.

Once in a while, we have gotten a chance to have a few sessions outside and gotten 80 to 90 pints which is very little,” Wayodi said adding:  “30 pints a week is very little considering the number of hospitals that require blood. At the same time not all the blood collected passes the test for use. Other pints are rejected.” 

The situation is further compounded by the facility’s non-functional cold storage facility, which has been out of service for the past seven years after it broke down. 

According to Wayodi, the facility has been relying on refrigerators and deep freezers but whenever there is a power outage, they are left in crisis because they have no standby generator.

“The institution has refrigerators which replaced the cold room. We use them for storing reagents, blood and blood products several years after the cold room broke down,” Wayodi said in an interview with People Daily.

Following the crisis, Wayodi said the centre  has partnered with the boda boda associations, Mombasa County Government, Action Kenya, the Red Cross Society and Red Splash to mobilise for blood donation in all the six sub-counties of Mombasa.