Blood shortage forces choices between patients, says NBTS chief

A senior health official is warning that critically low blood supplies at the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) are putting lives at risk, with current stocks at just half the level needed to meet demand.

In a candid interview with The Gleaner on Monday, Dr Kamille West-Mitchell, director of the NBTS, said the shortage means some patients are being denied urgently needed blood transfusions.

“Every day or night or weekend, there is somebody who needs it and did not get it because we don’t have it,” she said.

Against that backdrop, West-Mitchell issued an urgent appeal for more Jamaicans to donate blood, warning that lives will continue to be at risk unless supplies are replenished.

“We don’t have enough, so every day, people have to make a decision between Patient One and Patient Two,” a blunt West-Mitchell disclosed.

West-Mitchell said it would be misleading to downplay the severity of the shortage, arguing that the chronic lack of blood has become so commonplace that many people have come to accept it as normal.

“It has been the s tatus quo for too long so people have said, ‘Oh, you know, that’s how it is’, but this is not acceptable,” she stressed.

West-Mitchell said that despite repeated appeals for blood donations, many Jamaicans remain unaware of the severity of the shortage, with some telling her they had no idea the situation had become so critical.

However, she said that when she asks those same people whether they have ever donated blood, the answer is often “no”.

“If you have never donated, think about everybody else who has not donated. That’s blood we don’t have, and people also have the concept that they can only donate once in their life,” the NBTS head stated, moving quickly to debunk that notion, advising that each person can make up to four blood donations annually.

“The same way we are doing the collections here, I also get the calls for people who they need blood for. So when you call about mothers and children and babies and accident victims and whoever it is, you get all of those; and it is not every day we have something for them,” she said.

She appealed to Jamaicans to donate blood, reminding them that someone in need of a life-saving transfusion could be waiting for blood of their type.

West-Mitchell said many Jamaicans do not fully appreciate the importance of blood types, explaining that blood cannot be transferred indiscriminately from one person to another because donor and recipient blood must be compatible.

“If you are O-Negative, you need to get O-Negative blood. Some other types you can get different things like if you are group A, you can get O and A, but for some types, there are limited options. If you are O, you can only get O, and if you are O-Negative, only three per cent of people have that type,” she said, painting a picture of the matchmaking process.

She warned that a shortage of O-Negative donors could leave patients with that blood type facing serious difficulties when they require transfusions.

Stressing the urgency of the situation, West-Mitchell urged Jamaicans to recognise that the blood needed to save lives is the supply already in the blood bank, not commitments from people who intend to donate but have not yet done so.

She cited an example of the immediate impact of blood donation, recalling how she encouraged an individual to give blood and, while he was at the facility, he received a call that the mother of someone he knew required urgent surgery and needed blood. She said his donation was completed immediately at the health facility, helping to meet that critical need.

West-Mitchell also urged motorists, especially motorcycle riders, to use the roads responsibly, warning that accidents place additional pressure on already-limited blood supplies.

“Pay attention to your neighbour, drive considerately, even take a few seconds to think. In so many accidents, if someone had just taken a couple seconds to think ‘What would happen if I do this?’, you could have spared several people hospital stays, bloodshed and their lives,” she said.

Addressing the fear of needles, which remains a major deterrent for some potential donors, West-Mitchell said donor phlebotomists understand the concerns of those who are needle-shy and work to make the process as comfortable as possible. She described herself as a petite person with small veins, and yet she donates blood.

“I wouldn’t say to you, just because I work at the blood bank, ‘Come and give blood.’ I am saying to you, ‘I have been a blood donor for years and I am speaking to you with experience from the chair. I am an active participant,’” she said.

She said the needle insertion itself lasts less than a second, adding that potential donors undergo a thorough screening and evaluation process before blood is collected, to ensure the safety of both the donor and the recipient.

“Many people who are very afraid, once they try it they are shocked at how easy it is – the draw itself, the actual bloodletting part, is less than 10 minutes,” she added.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com

Blood donations can be made at:

• National Blood Transfusion Centre (Kingston)

• University Hospital of the West Indies (St Andrew)

• National Chest Hospital to restart collection in August (St Andrew)

• Spanish Town Hospital (St Catherine)

• May Pen Hospital (Clarendon)

• Cornwall Regional Hospital (St James)

• Cornwall Regional carries out blood collection drives at Falmouth on Fridays and Black River every fourth Friday.

• Savanna-la-Mar Hospital (Westmoreland)

• St Ann’s Bay Hospital (St Ann)

Persons can also invite the National Blood Transfusion Centre to collect blood at their workplaces, churches and communities.