JEDDAH: The Ministry of Health has allocated nearly SR800 million to fund the establishment of a blood plasma derivatives factory in the Kingdom. Dr. Ibrahim Al-Omar, the ministry's Director of Laboratories and Blood Bank Department, said the factory will have the capacity to produce 14 types of medication, including those for cancer, skin diseases, burns, bleeding, clotting deficiencies, and other important antibiotics, before the year 2013. With the establishment of the factory, the Kingdom will join only 10 countries that have this advanced technology. Other ministry initiatives underway, include updaing and developing 20 blood banks in the country at a cost of SR500 million. “The factry will represent medication security as some medications will not be brought from abroad but manufactured here using local blood,” Al-Omar said. He added that the Kingdom worked with the Council of Arab Health Ministers to establish the factory so that it can serve all countries in the region. He said the cost of importing blood is high and the establishment of this factory “is a real investment” in the health of the people. There are currently 252 blood banks in the country which collected more than 415,000 blood bags last year. There are 25,000 blood donors registered.
