Blood Bank in Yemen’s Taiz Threatened with Closure, Posing Risk to Patients’ Lives
(AWP) - The National Blood Transfusion Centre in Taiz, southern Yemen, is suffering from shortage of available blood, threatening its closure and putting the lives of many patients at risk.
The centre, which serves many cities near the province of Taiz, represents the only source available to patients who travel long distances to get their blood needs.
Hassan Latif, for example, travels about 400 kilometres from his home in the city of Tihama to Taiz several times a month to get blood for his daughter who has a hereditary blood cell disorder (Thalassemia) and needs blood on a constant basis.
Latif said, “I came all the way from Tihama in search of blood because there aren’t any blood centres there. I came to Taiz because my daughter is suffering from Thalassemia. This blood bank currently has no blood. It needs support.”
Many residents of Taiz and the surrounding areas have been concerned that the free services of the Taiz blood bank may cease, as many patients would not be able to afford the costs of blood transfusion at private centres due to the deteriorating economic conditions in the war-ravaged country.
Saeed Abdullah Hussein, the father of a young girl with leukemia, said, “We wish blood would always be available here in this centre because we need it on a weekly basis. If it shuts down, it will be a disaster for everyone. We have to get blood from here as it is offered as a donation without any costs.”
In an attempt to handle the crisis, officials in Taiz province have urged the city’s people and nearby cities to donate blood so the reserve can meet the blood bank’s needs and save the lives of many patients.
Ahmed Abdullah Mansour, Director of the National Blood Transfusion Centre in Taiz, said, “Most of the cases we receive come from the city or its districts in general. There are poor, destitute and sick cases, particularly during the spread of epidemics in the districts of al-Makha, al-Waziya and Mawza. There are no blood banks in those areas and that is why they all come to us in Taiz. We work on preparing platelet-rich plasma and sending it to them.”
“If the blood bank closes, this will be catastrophic for them. Many children and people will die. There will be certain death for them,” he warned.