Veterinarian assigned to run Regional Blood Center

M. Waqar Bhatti

Islamabad: Instead of a trained and qualified hematologist, federal health authorities have appointed a ‘veterinarian’ as the project director of Regional Blood Center (RBC) Islamabad, which has been lying non-functional for the last five months, after its PC-1 completed in June this year.

“Dr. Hussain Ali, a veterinarian who is in charge of the Animal House at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad has been assigned the additional charge of project director of Regional Blood Center (RBC) Islamabad.

The blood center has been lying non-functional for the last five months after its PC-1 was completed in June 2023”, an official at the Regional Blood Center (RBC) Islamabad told The News.

It is worth mentioning here that the condition of 80 percent of the 28 public and private blood banks was not up to the mark while almost all the public-sector blood banks had received ‘warnings for closure’ from the Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority (IHRA) for not following the laid down criteria for the blood banks.

Following the establishment of RBC Islamabad, all the blood banks were supposed to be linked with the regional blood center to acquire blood and other blood products. Still, the project could not be materialized after the passage of several years.

Employees and officials at the RBC Islamabad, which was established with the financial support of Rs. 528.383 million from the German government, said they had not received salaries for the last five months while the blood center also lacked supplies, consumables to process blood products while there was no fuel available for vehicles.

“The Islamabad Electricity Supply Corporation (IESCO) has given disconnection notice to the RBC after electricity dues were not paid for the last several months”, one of the employees at RBC Islamabad said adding that many officers and employees were not coming to their jobs as they had not been paid salaries for last five months.

They further claimed that most of the ‘functional’ vehicles were being used by the present and former officials of the federal health ministry as well as government officials while several vehicles, which had broken down, had been parked at the RBC Islamabad.

“One of the vehicles, a double cabin Revo truck was given to the former health minister Abdul Qadir Patel and since then, this vehicle has been unaccounted for. There are several other vehicles, which are in the use of the ministry of health officials”, an employee dealing with administrative affairs claimed.

Measuring 21,000 square feet, the Regional Blood Center Islamabad constructed on the premises of the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad can collect, process, and distribute more than 50,000 donations annually.

It was supposed to carry out mass awareness campaigns, blood donation drives, and blood testing to provide blood units to the six public health facilities in the capital.

Ministry of National Health Services officials said the project was aimed at the elimination of duplication of services, and improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness by placing hospital blood banks under RBC Islamabad for the supply of safe blood products.

The idea behind establishing the regional blood center was to increase voluntary non-remunerated blood donation (VNRBD) from 10-12 percent (estimated) to 1000% in a phased manner, including conversion of replacement/family donors to regular blood donors and ensuring rational use of blood and blood products.

When approached, Hussain Ali said he had been given the additional charge of the Regional Blood Center (RBC) in addition to his responsibilities at NIH and maintained that the main issue facing the blood center was completion of its PC-I and getting funds to keep the blood center functional. Favoritism Exposed: Health Ministry Shakes Up NIH Recruitment

“At the moment, I’m trying to get this blood functional by getting its PC-4 approved by the Planning Commission. I believe that it is a state-of-the-art facility and the government should allocate funds to keep it functional”, he added.

However, some experts believe that the only way to keep the Regional Blood Center Islamabad functional was to hand it over to some private organization under a public-private partnership, saying most of the regional blood centers established with German funding were being run under public-private partnerships in the provinces.

“Islamabad is the only city in Islamabad where a state of the art facility with most sophisticated equipment and staff is lying non-functional as health authorities have no interest in running this facility”, a senior hematologist, associated with one of the blood banks established with German funding in Punjab, said.