04 Jan 2018

Princess Marina Hospital has denied allegations that five people have died as a result of shortage of blood.

A press release from Marina indicates that the allegations are not true .

Furthermore, the release says as a hospital they have noted with concern individuals bashing Princess Marina Hospital (PMH) for non-availability of blood and blood by-products in the hospital.  

‘We would like to  state that as the end user, PMH gets its supply from National Blood Transfusion Services (NBTS) and therefore PMH just like other health facilities has shortage of blood,” says the release.

It says NBTS which has been tasked with blood transfusion in the country has on many occasions made public plea for people to donate blood, indicating that the supply in the blood bank is minimal. 

Furthermore, it says the general public did not head their request except for few individuals and this has resulted in severe shortage of blood.

“Just before Christmas and New Year NBTS has repeatedly requested Batswana to donate blood considering that we are heading towards accident prone holidays, but only few turned up.  

This has put clinicians in tough predicament because the moment a patient needs blood they will be rushed to a health facility and if they don’t have the blood type the patient will have a prolonged hospital stay and staff is persecuted,” says the release.

The release states that in Botswana the relevant institutions do not pay for blood donation but rely on regular blood donors to save people’s lives.

“It is with this note that we humbly request the general public to  donate blood as a matter of urgency at the nearest NBTS offices located in Gaborone, Francistown, Molepolole, Mahalapye, Maun and Serowe. The six centres are always ready for blood donation and please Call 368 6701 / 368 6700 to locate the NBTS office near you,” says the release.

In addition, the release says Princess Marina Hospital has set up its own autologous blood donation unit. Autologous blood donation is done for people who donate blood from themselves prior to operation and not general blood transfusion service, PMH autologous blood donation opens on Monday to Friday from 730 am to 430pm  and not open on weekends and public holidays. 

However, according to the release, even though PMH collects blood it still sends it to NBTS for screening of diseases. 

“It is against this background that PMH had to seek permission from NBTS to use 2017 Bar Codes while awaiting new ones, once again we urge the general public to heed messages from health professionals and donate blood on time to avoid unnecessary pressure.  

We also take this opportunity to thank those who donated blood to safe guard lives.,” says the release. ENDS