Donor Blood Procurement and Utilisation at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City

Abstract

Banked blood is a limited resource in Nigeria. We sought to evaluate factors that may further limit the effective utilisation of donor blood in a tertiary hospital in Benin City. The records of the blood transfusion unit of the hospital were studied to identify the methods of blood procurement and utilisation from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2002. A total of 11,021 units of blood were received in the blood transfusion unit within this period out of which 1491 (13.5%) donor blood samples were found unfit for transfusion and, hence, discarded. Commercial blood donation accounted for 95.3%, compared to 4.7% from replacement and volunteer donors. Commercial blood donation was a major risk factor for likely disposal of donor blood (x 2 = 74.3, p < 0.0001, OR = 21.1, 95% CI = 7.8-56.7). Expired units of blood with low PCV were discarded for lack of infrastructure to fractionate and store them. Over N 0.8million (US$6000.00) is wasted annually on discarded units of donor blood mainly from commercial donors. A policy on blood procurement to include subgroup selection of donors and improved funding of blood banking services may enhance efficient and effective utilisation of donor blood.

Prevalence of &lt;i&gt;Plasmodium&lt;/i&gt; Parasitaemia among Blood Donors in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

“…In addition, commercial blood donation which is still a common practice in our country has been associated with a higher rate of transfusion malaria so may have contributed to the high rate observed [21]. This is further supported by our findings that all infected donors had mild to moderate degrees of parasitaemia; ninety-five (47.5%) had mild while forty (20%) had moderate degrees of parasitaemia.…”

Donor blood procurement and the risk of transfusion transmissible viral infections in a tertiary health facility in South-South Nigeria

“…In this 12-month transfusion record study, 7552 donors were recorded. A related work in the same hospital by Enosolease et al 8. recorded 11,021 over a 3 years period (January 2000 to December 2002).…”

“…The risk of transmission is highest with blood procured from commercial donors 2–489. There is still a high dependence on remunerated donors especially in developing nations such as Nigeria.…”

Knowledge, attitude and practice of voluntary blood donation among physicians in a tertiary health facility of a developing country

“…In most developing and transitional countries, by contrast, family replacement and paid blood donors are still the significant source of blood components for transfusion [4].…”