Within the framework of its endeavors to develop blood banks, and in response to the increasing demand of health sectors on blood and blood products with the highest attainable standard of safety and quality, the Ministry of Health’s (MOH), represented by Laboratories and Blood Banks General Department, organized the first workshop for blood banks’ experts in the Kingdom. The workshop was attended by the Deputy Minister of Health for Therapeutic Services, Dr. Turaif Al-A‘ma, and a large number of blood banks experts in Saudi Arabia, from the Ministry of Health and other governmental and private health agencies. Participating also was a specialized team from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which is a global company specialized in setting development plans in the health domain, and which has conducted a survey on specialists in blood banks.
In his address, Dr. Turaif has pointed out that the workshop aims at discussing the strategies needed for developing the blood banks process and promoting the culture of voluntary blood donation, which currently stands at 40%. He went on adding that the workshop seeks to unify the work mechanism in all blood banks, create e-link between them and develop a mechanism for the transfer of blood units between blood banks and various health sectors.
It is worth mentioning that the workshop aims at exchanging the expertise of specialists in blood banks all over the different government and private health sectors, as well as sharing and making benefit of other experiences with all blood banks; in an endeavor to come up with cohesive recommendations under a unified national umbrella.
Within the same vein, the workshop has touched upon the MOH’s strategic plans and the special enterprises which have been achieved for the development of blood banks, since the Ministry is in charge of 70% of blood banks services. Furthermore, the workshop also discussed the MOH’s available capabilities, challenges and obstacles facing it, the solutions to ensure the safety and security of blood transfusion services in the Kingdom, and the results of the BCG’s survey. It also sought to find solutions to overcome the difficulties, and provide, as soon as possible, best-quality services of blood transfusion in the Kingdom.