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Public health facilities are facing a severe crisis due to a shortage of blood transfusion screening kits.
The Kenyan National Blood Transfusion Service (KNBTS) Director Margaret Odour said the shortage has been experienced in the last one month due to a delayed procurement process.
Dr Odour said due to the shortage, all samples in regional centres are being sent to the national reference laboratory in Nairobi. It takes two days for the samples to be processed.
She said KNBTS is expecting to receive the kits by tomorrow and they would be distributed to all regional centres including Nakuru, Nairobi, Eldoret, Mombasa, Kisumu and Embu by Friday.
"This is a countrywide shortage caused by a delay in arrival of the kits that are imported. However, there is no alarm as the machine in Nairobi is screening the samples though we are incurring an extra transport cost," she said. She urged Kenyans to continue donating blood to ensure there is enough during emergencies.
A medical officer at the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital, who requested anonymity for fear of victimisation, told The Standard that the shortage has affected the sector for almost one month.
Hepatitis screening
Lack of screening kits at the hospital that serves patients from Baringo, Kericho, Nakuru, Narok, Samburu, Nyandarua, Bomet and parts of Laikipia might affect patients in dire need of blood transfusion.
"The situation is bad and requires quick action to ensure patients receive quality blood in case of emergencies and delivery because transfusion depends on blood groups," said the officer.
However, the officer noted that no patient admitted at the facility has died due to lack of blood since the shortage began. Rift Valley Regional Blood Transfusion Centre Director Nick Kiptanui said the screening process has slowed down in the past one month due to the shortage.
Dr Kiptanui said blood samples at the facility sent to the national testing laboratory in Nairobi take approximately two days to yield results.
He pointed out that 1,050 samples were sent to Nairobi on Friday and he has so far received only 200 samples and is waiting for 400 more.
Blood samples sent for screening in Nairobi are being screened for hepatitis B and C, HIV and syphilis.
The Rift Valley Regional Centre supplies blood to county and sub-county hospitals including Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital, Naivasha, Kericho, Trans Mara, Nyahururu, Koibatek, Longisa in Bomet, Narok, Molo, Olkalou and Maralal.
He said a lot of support is required from individual and companies in the screening process because it is expensive, adding that one unit of blood requires approximately Sh8,000 to screen.
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