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The new blood bank in Islamabad will improve blood safety standard in the country
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The foundation stone of the ‘Islamabad Regional Blood Centre’ building has been laid down by the Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division Dr. Tariq Fazal Choudhry.
The Islamabad Regional Blood Centre will be constructed under the Safe Blood Transfusion Programme (SBTP) at Park Road in Chak Shehzad and will cost of 175 million Rupees.
The centre would be constructed and equipped with the support of the German government through KFW-German Development Bank, amounting to Rs175 million (Euro 1.6 million).
Islamabad Regional Blood Centre will regulate blood banks in the capital, ensuring the supply of quality blood to patients. The authorities are hopeful to complete the project in one year to short time.
Speaking after the ground-breaking ceremony, CADD Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhary expressed his gratitude to the German government for the gift of a blood center to the people of Islamabad. He appreciated the presence of visiting German delegation in the ceremony.
“The Government is fully committed to improving the blood safety standards in the country. He said development of a model regional center in Islamabad will go a long way in achieving this goal”. Dr. Tariq Fazal added.
The German government was represented in the ceremony by Dr Henning Plate, Head of Division Afghanistan/Pakistan, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany, and KfW Country Director Wolfgang Moellers. Also present on the occasion were CADD Additional Secretary Dr Jamal Yousaf, Safe Blood Transfusion Programme Project Director Prof Hasan Abbas Zaheer, KfW Health Sector Coordinator Dr Masuma Zaidi and EPOS Health Management Team Leader Zahid Mahmood.
German delegation leader Dr Henning Plate congratulated the minister and secretary for their keen interest in the implementation of the project in the region and appreciated the government’s commitment to improve access to safe blood. He expressed the hope that the German government-funded blood centres would herald a new era of blood safety for the people of Pakistan. He termed the Safe Blood Transfusion Project a ‘success story’ and appreciated the untiring efforts of the federal and provincial teams in making the project a success.
Prof Zaheer informed the delegates that the facility would serve as a model blood centre in the country. “It will be a procurement and distribution centre, ensuring quality systems to regulate all activities, including mobilisation and retention of voluntary blood donors, maintenance of donor database, collection of blood donations and processing, screening, testing, component preparation and storage of the prepared components. A customised MIS (management information system) has been specially procured for the smooth functioning of the new system”.
The new center being built in Islamabad is one of the fifteen Regional Blood Centers (RBCs) which are a part of Phase II of the project which makes them eligible for development and upgrading. Other than this, there are about thirty other blood banks in the hospital that will be remodeled and re-equipped with the grant of Rs.1.1 Billion.