Making the blood supply safe from HIV: The Sri Lankan experience

Sri Lanka is an island situated in the Indian Ocean with an area of 65,610 km super(2) and an estimated population of 17.5 million. The National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) of Sri Lanka is managed by the government and funded by an allocation from the Ministry of Health budget. This service, wh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current science (Bangalore) 1995-11, Vol.69 (10), p.857-860
Main Author: de Zoysa, Nandrani S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AIDS
Antibodies
Blood
Blood banks
Blood donation
Blood transfusion
HIV
HIV infections
human immunodeficiency virus
Infections
SPECIAL SECTION: AIDS IN ASIA
Viruses
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Summary:Sri Lanka is an island situated in the Indian Ocean with an area of 65,610 km super(2) and an estimated population of 17.5 million. The National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) of Sri Lanka is managed by the government and funded by an allocation from the Ministry of Health budget. This service, which was established in 1962 with a central blood bank and one regional blood bank, has now expanded to include 47 regional blood banks. The central blood bank, which is located on the premises of Sri Lanka's premier hospital, fulfills the hospital's blood needs, including those of Accident Service and a nearby maternity hospital. It also serves as a reference centre for all the regional blood banks and as a training centre for medical, nursing and technical personnel appointed to the NBTS and their undergraduate and postgraduate trainees. The regional blood banks are located at teaching, provincial, base and district hospitals and handle the blood needs of those hospitals. The central blood bank and regional blood banks also undertake serological investigations, including antenatal serology, for hospitals. The NBTS collects blood from approximately 100,000 donors annually. Facilities for preparing and storing all blood components are available at the central blood bank and eight large regional blood banks, and facilities to prepare a few basic blood components are available in seventeen of the smaller regional blood banks. Blood is tested for syphilis, malaria, hepatitis B and HIV.
ISSN:0011-3891