The National Blood Transfusion Services is set to be transformed into a semi-autonomous government agency, new Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe has announced.
The new agency will oversee all activities of blood collection, storage and general management, said the Health CS who admitted that the country had ignored the importance of blood for a long time.
“We have not been managing the whole exercise correctly. In the short term as we await the bill that is on the floor of the National Assembly, we are coming up with a regulatory framework to start managing the blood sector immediately,” Mr. Kagwe said on Thursday morning.
For purposes of traceability of the blood from the donor to the recipient, Mr. Kagwe said the Ministry of Health will work closely with their Information, Communications and Technology counterpart.
The idea, he said, is to regionalize the collection of blood.
“Once the whole exercise is digitized, it will make it easy for us to know who is donating blood; how is it going to be stored and managed, and who the recipients are,” he said.
The new measures come amid a biting shortage of blood in public hospitals, a crisis the Health CS blamed on cartels in his ministry.
A survey by the People Daily revealed that blood collection centres across the country are poorly equipped and understaffed and neglected.
Some patients revealed that they are forced to bribe hospital workers to get blood transfusion.
The shortage is causing huge suffering for patients and their families, raising questions about the country’s preparedness in case of an emergency.
The national demand stands at about 500,000 units per year but the Kenya National Blood Transfusion Service collects between 150,000 and 200,000 units annually.
Kenya’s blood bank was set up after the 1998 US Embassy attack in Nairobi by the United States.
Subsequently, the US channelled Sh850 million annually to the blood bank through the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief.
But the funding was to last only 17 years since the agreement allowed the Kenyan government to take over after that period.
The US funding ceased in July 2019 catching the Ministry of Health unawares and unprepared.
