Gradual withdrawal of The US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) funding since 2014 and failure by the government to plug the resulting gap have caused a crisis in regional and satellite blood banks.

Funding for the Kenya National Blood Transfusion Service ceased last year.

“We have a capacity to store up to 5,000 units of blood but we currently have less than 400 units. Reduced funding has curtailed our outreach programmes.

Now we can only visit a few schools for blood donation campaigns because the exercise is very expensive,” deputy director of Kisumu Blood Transfusion Centre Mathews Odera told People Daily.

“From the regional blood banks we don’t charge for blood at all and we give blood to public, mission and private hospitals for free.

Some private hospitals have put in place counter measures to retest the blood they get from us and that cost is passed to the patients,” he added.

The shortage of blood in regional and satellite centres has compelled some hospitals to run their own collections. Since the process is costly, hospitals pass the expenses to patients.

“A four-in-one blood bag costs Sh650 and the blood is then subjected to four tests. Before transfusion we must test for HIV, syphilis and Hepaptitis B and C.

Reagents for testing are very expensive and this cost is passed to the patient, not to mention labour charges.

It is these charges that some patients misconstrue to be the cost of the blood donated for free,” said a doctor working for a private hospital in Kisumu, and who did not wish to be named.

The government set up six regional blood banks 20 years ago upon recommendations of World Health Organisation (WHO) to streamline the process of blood collection. 

This led to a more structured collection, screening, storage and distribution of blood by the six banks in Nairobi, Embu, Nakuru, Mombasa, Eldoret and Kisumu.

The plan was heavily financed by PEPFAR which hoped the government would step in when the US ended the funding.