One of the most important yet neglected profession in health centers

Most people don’t know me. Others despise me. Majority ignore me. I feel neglected. Perhaps it is because all I do when I get in contact with a patient is asking them for stool, urine or sputum samples. At best I draw blood from them. Majority think all I do is sitting on a stool looking at a stool sample. This is all because I am in one of the least recognized health professions. My profession is like the rudder that steers a ship. It is not necessarily seen, but it does the most important work. Allow me talk about myself just today, because I am rarely noticed.

Have you ever wondered who approves blood for transfusion into that patient lying desperately in Intensive Care Unit or in the ward? I obtain blood from donors. I group it to know and document its identity. I screen it for infectious agents such as HIV, Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus and Treponema pallidum (the cause of syphilis) among others. I do this to ensure the infections are not passed on to the recipient of the donated blood. I go ahead to cross match the donor’s blood with the targeted recipients serum to ensure a transfusion reaction does not occur when the patient is transfused with the blood. Behold, I prepare individual blood components such as packed red blood cells and fresh frozen plasma amongst others. Simply, blood transfusion is my responsibility.

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