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Staff strike leaves blood collection in a paralysis

Patients in dire need of transfusion are struggling to get blood.

The Kenya National Blood Transfusion Services (KNBTS), a State agency that collects, processes, tests, stores and distributes blood, has been crippled by a staff strike that has entered its second month.

The workers' strike has paralysed services at 33 centres across the country. No one in the top management of the institution has attempted to address the strike that began on October 29.

At the same time, a vicious boardroom row has played out at the agency for the past one year.

The leadership wrangles facing KNBTS worsened after the United States' President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) contract came to an end.

The government depended heavily on Pepfar, whose funding ended in September 2019. Pepfar was funding the blood drive to the tune of Sh2 billion annually.

According to the Ministry of Health report, Pepfar allocated Sh7.25 billion for the country’s blood safety programme in the last 15 years. 

An KNBTS employee based in Eldoret told The Standard in an interview that the roles of the employees are to collect blood from donors, process, test for HIV and Hepatitis B, and distribute to hospitals.

However, currently, the role has been halted by the strike, with hospitals seeking an alternative by asking relatives and commercial donors for support.

For example, KNBTS headquarters in Eldoret used to collect an average of 150 units of blood daily, but now it is dry. The centre supplies blood to the North Rift and partly the Western regions.

“People are dying due to lack of blood. Our bank at Eldoret is dry and we are also worried about the quality of what is collected at the hospital because standard procedures are not being used,” said the employee.

The employees appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Health on December 2, and tabled their petition.

A visit to various KNBTS centres revealed a shortage of blood coupled with a lack of equipment for smooth service delivery.

As you step into the blood centre at the Rift Valley KNBTS headquarters, the first thing you are likely to notice is a deserted station that was once a lifeline to many before October.

Emergency vehicles that were collecting freshly donated blood and dispatching to various hospitals are conspicuously missing and several others are grounded.

“Are you looking for blood? If so, we are neither collecting nor doing any screening at the moment,” said an employee who requested anonymity.

Patients at the adjacent Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital have been on the waiting list and now their lives hang in the balance as the shortage bites.

Hospitals in Nyanza region have also depleted their stocks.

Chief Executive Officer at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital Peter Okoth said the shortage has affected service delivery and was risking the lives of patients in need of a transfusion.

Okoth said the facility was forced to discharge patients who are in urgent need of blood to seek health services in private hospitals or from neighbouring counties.

In a day, the hospital attends to an average of 25 patients who need blood transfusion.

“Due to acute shortage of blood, the hospital is depending on blood donated by relatives of patients, which is not adequate,” said Okoth.

Nyanza Regional Blood Transfusion Centre deputy director Mathew Odera said the employees will not resume work until their grievances are addressed.

Odera said part of their grievances was promotions, noting the last ones were done seven years ago.

“It is unfortunate that the government seems to ignore our demands. Currently, we are not even supplied with personal protective equipment, yet we are part of health workers fighting the Covid-19 pandemic,” regretted Odera.

Health reports reveal that the country requires 1,275 pints of blood daily. However, the volume has dropped to 250 pints.

KNBTS acting director Nduku Kilonzo said she was aware of the situation and the Ministry of Health was addressing the matter.

“I am aware of the matter and it is currently being handled by the ministry,” she said.

And Council of Governors chairman Wycliffe Oparanya said blood collection was a sensitive unit and should be managed at the national level. “Most counties have been running blood drives, yet it is a national function,” he said.

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