National Blood Transfusion Services
The Swaziland National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) is the only Blood Centre in the Kingdom of Swaziland. It aims to have safe and efficacious blood and blood products, timely available, in sufficient quantities, and used appropriately and effectively. The units of blood must be accessible to all citizens requiring a blood transfusion.
- Achievements
- Blood Policy cleaning up has been completed and presently being reviewed for conversion to a legislation to support establishment of the National Blood Transfusion Service as an autonomous unit.
- Development of Blood Transfusion Clinical Guidelines and refresher training for Doctors on appropriate and effective use of blood was carried out.
- Hospital Blood Transfusion Committees have been established in 19 transfusing health facilities and monitoring of blood transfusion practice by the committees is continuing
- Training of Nurses and Doctors on blood ordering and administering has been completed in 19 transfusing facilities
- Through Donor educational talks, a pool of regular blood donors is being established as new club members are continuing to join the pool of regular blood donors
- Blood cold chain is being maintained from blood collection up to patient transfusion with financial support from World Bank in which cooler boxes and blood bank refrigerators were purchased
- Efforts of scaling up collections of blood to 18,000 blood units per year are continuing. However, these efforts meet challenges with the present establishment of the Blood Transfusion Service regarding staff and petrol limitation.
- Increased numbers of donor blood units were collected from regular blood donors (from schools blood donor clubs) from the four (4) regions of the country making the first layer of blood safety stronger based on donor group selection.
- Achieved a stronger collaboration and a good working relationship with the Ministry of Education Schools Principals (Primary and Secondary/ High Schools) in harvesting blood from schools, and in establishing blood donor clubs following the introduction of the Blood Transfusion Bus for transportation of schools Blood Donor Club members for blood donation.