Falih Al-Dhibyani Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – The Ministry of Health will soon announce new regulations to ensure that blood donated is free from any infectious diseases. Blood banks will be linked electronically with hospitals that treat AIDS patients and centers that do pre-marital medical checkup. An approval to collect blood will be given electronically once the donor's blood has been proved to be free from infectious diseases. However, this approval won't be final and there will be another test to ensure that the donated blood is safe and matches that of the person undergoing transfusion. Sources said the ministry will form a body to monitor the proper implementation related to donors and recipients of blood. The body will send inspectors on surprise visits to ensure these procedures are being enforced and complied with. The ministry took these measures after the infamous case of a 13-year-old girl who was given HIV-tainted blood in Jazan. Last month the ministry sacked seven senior officials involved in the case of HIV-tainted blood transfusion given to Reham Al-Hakami. The director general, the medical director, the directors of laboratory and blood bank and the technical supervisor of blood bank at Jazan General Hospital were sacked. The director and the technical supervisor of the blood bank were also fined SR10,000 each. The coordinator of the AIDS program and the director of labs and blood banks in the Directorate General of Health Affairs in Jazan were also sacked. The lab technician, who was directly involved in the tainted blood transfusion, was stripped of his license and sacked from work, the ministry announcement said. The ministry also stopped blood donations at Jazan General Hospital till proper measures are taken to ensure safer blood donations. New mechanism has been put in place at the lab and blood bank in the Jazan Directorate General for Health Affairs to prevent another such incident. The ministry took these actions based on the recommendation of a specialist committee formed to investigate the case. Those involved in the case will also face the Medical Health Authority which will decide further punishments. The donor of the HIV-tainted blood will be referred to the appropriate authorities. Reham, who suffers from sickle-cell anemia, underwent a blood transfusion at Jazan General Hospital. When the technician discovered the girl may have been given infected blood, the hospital sent an ambulance to the girl's home and rushed her to the King Fahd Central Hospital in Jazan. Jazan Health Affairs offered fresh details on how the girl contracted the HIV virus through a mistaken blood transfusion procedure and apologized to her family. “The Ministry of Health formed a committee to start an immediate investigation into the incident and bring the responsible technician to justice,” the statement said. The supervisor of the National Society for Human Rights' Jazan Branch said the society will demand that all officials at the Ministry of Health and Jazan Health Affairs found to be responsible for the grave medical mistake are punished.
