16 Feb 2014

 Expectant mothers and their partners must know their blood group if they are to prevent child mortality, senior medical scientist at Athlone hospital in Lobatse, Dr Santos, has advised.

Dr Santos explained that there were four blood group types; namely A, B, AB and O, and that the AB type was the universal recipient while type O was termed the universal donor. He said the blood groups were categorised into rhesus negative and rhesus positive, which defined if the group was rare or common.

The rhesus positive, he explained, was the mostly found while the rhesus negative might be difficult to acquire. Therefore both parents had to be of the same rhesus factor for the survival of their baby, he advised.

“The mother needs to be administered with a substance called rhogam to neutralise the rhesus from the father,” he said, adding that if the administration did not occur, then the next pregnancy would not be a success.

The medical scientist explained that it was the duty of the doctor who attended to expecting mothers to ensure that tests for the blood group type were conducted, adding that the expectant mother also had a right to request for such.

“It is a must to require for an expectant mother’s file which contains blood results,’ said Dr Santos. He said according to a report produced by the Lobatse District Health Management Team for a period of a month, only 171 people had been recorded to have done their blood group plus rhesus tests which indicated that people were unaware that such knowledge was vital.

To underscore the fact that the life of an animal was in its blood, the medical specialist said they usually sensitised people on the importance of knowing their blood group type. Ends