Bad blood reportedly found at hospital

At least 13 two-week-old expired blood bags were reportedly discovered at King Saud Hospital blood bank refrigerators during an inventory check. However, the Jeddah Health Affairs Department has denied the report.
Director Dr. Sami Badawoud said through his department that, “Expired blood bags are handled as per international standards and they are collected and disposed of by the medical waste-disposal company by the date of expiry. There are committees implementing expired-blood procedures.”
The hospital allegedly failed to implement regulations and standards, according to Arabic language media reports.
Blood disorder consultant Dr. Abdulraheem Gari said the storage period (shelf-life) of blood bags is six weeks. If expired blood is transfused to a person within two weeks of its expiration date, it could harm the kidneys.
If the blood is stored for more than eight weeks, it could cause blood poisoning and death. He added that Health Affairs must implement a unified criteria and standard to improve the level of its blood transfusion services and avoid such issues.
A female staff member reportedly discovered a blood bags past their labeled expiration date by chance, which made her supervisor instruct an inventory leading to the discovery of 13 expired bags. It cited a hospital official saying the bags were scheduled to be disposed of by a medical waste disposal company.