Aftab Khan, Obaid Ullah, Ghosia Lutfullah, Hina Zamir, Ambreen Arif.
Availability pattern of ABO and Rh blood bags in private and public sectors blood banks.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;57(4):176-80.

Background: Blood transfusion is a life saving phenomenon which has a very key role in the patient?s management and an important component of health care delivery. It is therefore very important that blood banks within health facilities must have store blood bags for all blood groups in order to handle emergencies. Objective: To determine the availability pattern of ABO and Rh blood groups in blood banks of private and public sector hospitals of two major cities of Pakistan. Study design, settings and duration: A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out in blood banks of private and public sector hospitals of Lahore and Peshawar from January to December 2016. Material and Methods: After taking written consent from the In-charge blood bank/hospital, a predesigned questionnaire was filled from 4 public sector and 4 private sector blood banks of tertiary care hospitals of two major cities Lahore and Peshawar. The gathered information was regarding blood bag types and history of donor. Similarly, information of 422 blood bags was gathered on a structured proforma from private and public sector hospitals collectively. Data was entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 16. Results: Out of 422 blood bags, 90.8% Rh positive and 9.2% Rh negative blood bags were available collectively in both private and public sector hospitals. Blood donation trend were found high among males (75.6%) than females (24.4%) and availability of Rh negative blood bags was high among male donors (7.5%) than female (1.7%). Availability of B positive blood was high in private sectors hospitals (18.5) while O positive blood was high in public sector hospitals (19.4%). Availability of AB negative and A negative was very low (less than 1%). Blood donation trend was high among age group 18-30 years (46%). Aged people having age >60 years mostly donated blood Rh negative (1%). Blood donation trend decreased with increasing age 46% for age 18-30 years and 13.5% for age group 51-60 years. Conclusion: Availability of ABO and Rh blood bags in private and public hospital blood banks of Lahore and Peshawar cities were similar. Availability of Rh negative blood bags was relatively very low. Mass awareness program are needed to encourage Rh negative blood donors toward blood donation. Females and seniors should be encouraged toward blood donation, so that we can meet over the emergencies in hospitals.

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