16 Mar 2016

The Ministry of Health has taken responsibility for an incident in which some pints of blood infected with treponema pallidum were transfused to patients at Princess Marina Hospital and Scottish Livingstone Hospital.

“At this point let me assure the nation that we take the responsibility for this and we have tracked the clients and we are talking to them, counselling and preparing them for treatment. We will provide all possible medical assistance within our ability,’ the Minister of Health, Ms Dorcas Makgato told a press briefing in Gaborone on Tuesday March 15.

She said the ministry took the stance of prophylactic treatment to all patients who were issued this blood and there was continuous monitoring as a precaution for possibility of infection.

The minister said some pints of blood, which were reactive for treponema pallidum, were dispatched to Princess Marina and Scotish Livingstone hospitals.

Treponema pallidum is a bacteria that could cause syphilis.

Minister Makgato said during verification of the system at the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBSC), eight units of blood were detected positive for treponema pallidum.

However, five units had already been sent and transfused to patients at the two hospitals.

 “We followed the audit trail of eight units, we retrieved three units, unfortunately five units had already been sent to the facilities and transfused, four pints at Princess Marina Hospital and one at Scottish Livingstone Hospital,” she said.

Ms Makgato explained that the treponema pallidum bacteria could only survive under cold temperatures of 4 degrees Celsius for three to five days but the blood issued stayed in the cold room for minimum of eight days, which significantly lowered chances of transmission of the bacteria.

Before any blood donation, the minister explained, donors went through pre-donation interview to check if they met requirements to donate blood and for those who met the requirements, their blood would then be tested for HIV, Hepatitis B & C and treponema pallidum.

She said blood that tested positive to these diseases would then be discarded.

She  encouraged the public to keep on donating blood as more was needed to help those who lost blood due to various reasons such as road accidents. Ends