RIYADH, 28 August — The Ministry of Health (MoH) has called on blood donors and blood banks across the Kingdom to take maximum precautions while donating and storing blood to be used in surgical procedures.

The call follows MoH findings that a substantial quantity of blood donated by members of the public are not fit for transfusion.

"About 10 to 15 percent of blood donated to blood banks is unsuitable for transfusion", said Abdullah ibn Zamil Adduwais, MoH’s assistant undersecretary for laboratory and blood bank affairs. He said that the most common diseases among donors are hepatitis B & C besides syphilis and malaria. People suffering from these diseases must refrain from donating blood, he said.

AIDS, which is very rare in Saudi Arabia, does not pose any problem for the blood donation program, said the MoH official. He, however, said that there is need for developing a corps of dedicated blood donors in Saudi Arabia. In some countries, up to 10 percent of the population volunteer to donate blood on a regular basis.

A healthy person can donate blood every two months round-the-year. But prostitutes and those who share injection needles or inject illegal drugs must not donate blood.

"In case a donor is found to be infected with any dangerous disease, he/she will be contacted and a second test will be conducted by the hospital concerned", said the MoH official. The donor will be referred to a specialist hospital for treatment if he/she is found to be suffering from any dangerous disease.

He said the MoH has ensured that adequate precautionary measures are taken in the whole process.

Referring to the growing demand for blood in Saudi Arabia, a report released by the local King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH & RC) said that local hospitals carry out a number of surgical procedures involving large quantities of blood on a daily basis. Blood transfusion is required in many surgeries and demand for blood is high for transplantation programs, especially bone marrow transplantation.

The report said that every country has to be self-sufficient in blood supply to be able to offer the best possible care to ailing citizens.

KFSH has had a blood donation program for the last several years. Under the program, the hospital’s mobile team visits sites on request from organizations/companies to collect blood.

The whole collection procedure is completed within 10 minutes, inflicting no harm on the health of the donor.

Prior to the actual donation, a donor has to undergo a basic health check including measurement of the hemoglobin level, body weight, temperature and blood pressure.

The volume of blood collected is normally replenished by the human body within a few hours, said the report, which also gives an overview of the blood donation program in Saudi Arabia.

New blood cells replace donated ones in the following days and a donor becomes able to donate again after eight weeks.

The donated blood is utilized to create different blood products and the red blood cells are stored up to five weeks to be released for transfusion.