Role of national blood transfusion service (NBTS) in promoting emergency obstetrics care (EMOC)

Background: Obstetrics haemorrhage is one of the leading cause of maternal mortality in our settings, this was compounded by the non availability to safe blood in situation of need. Hence the prompt access and availability of blood can avert this preventable cause of maternal death. Objectives: to highlight the benefits of effective collaboration with NBTS in ensuring prompt availability of blood for emergency obstetric services requiring blood for transfusion. Material And Method: All obstetrics cases requiring blood transfusion in FMC Nguru from 1st stJanuary 2006 ­ 31 December 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. Trends and pattern of the st strequest and source of blood were looked at within the two periods (from 1 January 2006 ­ 31 st stDecember 2008 and 1 January 2009 ­ 31 December 2011). Records of 1634 obstetric patients requiring blood transfusion or received blood transfusion in the maternity units were retrieved from the medical records, maternity ward record and blood bank. Information pertaining to their age, parity, indication for the transfusion or requests and source of blood was obtained for analysis. Data was analysed using simple percentage. st st Results: Between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2008 only 513 (56%) of the units requested st st907 units of blood were supplied, while between 1 January 2009 and 1 December 2011 1367 ( 87%) of the 1567 units of blood requested were supplied. Within the earlier study period the only available source were from willing relatives and commercial blood donors, however between 2009 and 2011 more than 2/3 (64.2%) were supplied from the north east zonal NBTS office in Maiduguri. In 2006 through 2008, donation from relatives and commercial donors accounted for 53.22% and 46.78% respectively, but in 2009 and 2011 donation from relatives and commercial donors were recorded as 23.9% and 11.6% respectively. The commonest indication for the requests were anaemia, obstetrics haemorrhage (PPH, APH) and emergency C/S. Conclusion: Ready available source of blood will significantly improve timely availability of blood in our setting. There is the need to encourage this collaboration in other regions to ensure prompt availability of blood to attend to emergencies requiring blood transfusion

Deferral patterns of voluntary blood donors at the National Blood Transfusion Service, North East zonal centre, Maiduguri

Appropriate donor selection in an important step in ensuring safe supply of blood and blood products. In this study deferral patterns of voluntary non-renumerated blood donors were determined at the North-Eastern Zonal Centre of the National Blood Transfusion service. The study was conducted between April 2007 and April 2009; and it involved the administration of a structured questionnaire. A total of 4032 voluntary blood donors were recruited; seven hundred and thirteen (17.7) were temporarily deferred. The commonest reasons for deferral were low haemoglobin; self-deferral; high blood pressure; low weight and high risk behaviour. Other reasons are use of certain medications; low blood pressure and failed venopuncture. Gender analysis showed that more females were deferred for low haemoglobin and more males were self-deferred. Following donor recall; 146 of the 173 donors temporarily deferred came back to donate. These consisted of 113 deferral due to low haemoglobin; 30 self-deferred and 3 induced in risky behaviour. Effective education or counseling; the old tradition of giving haematinics and good dietary advice to those with low haemaglobin values; improved the safety and availability of blood and blood products. Donors who are self-deferred and those involved in high risk bahviour should never be persuaded to donate blood. There is also the need for a review of operational guidelines with regards the uniform acceptable cut-off point of 12.5g/dl haemoglobin value for males and females

The Prevalence and Clinical Significance of Du Phenotype in Rhesus D Negative Pregnant Women in Maiduguri; Nigeria

To determine the prevalence and clinical significance of Du phenotype in Rhesus D negative pregnant women in Maiduguri; Nigeria; samples from 800 pregnant women who attended routine antenatal clinic from January 2004 to March 2005 were analyzed prospectively with respect to their ABO and Rhesus Blood group system. All Rhesus D negative women had elaborate indirect antiglobulin test to detect the presence of Du phenotype. The commonest ABO blood group system was group O. The prevalence's of Rhesus D positive and Rhesus D negative was 90.3