PATIENTS RECEIVING TAINTED BLOOD

PATIENTS RECEIVING TAINTED BLOOD

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(Protection and compensation): **

20.

Ms Ellen Lee asked the Minister for Health (a) what protection and compensation, if any, are offered to patients who receive tainted blood and contracted infectious diseases; and (b) how many such cases are there within the last 12 months and what has been done to minimise such incidences.

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: The risk of contracting an infection through blood transfusion is inherent in such a procedure. It has to be weighed against the life-saving benefits of blood transfusion. The only practical approach is to reduce the risk of transmission to its absolute minimum. This is done through a comprehensive series of measures based on international best practices to assure the safety of the national blood supply.

First, we ban commercial blood-banking, as it tends to attract the wrong type of donors. Instead, blood-banking in Singapore is purely based on voluntary non-remunerated blood donation. This allows us to select the blood donors, focusing on low-risk donors. Second, we test all donated blood for HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and syphilis using the latest available screening tests.

There have been no reported cases of transfusion transmitted infections in the last 12 months.

However, blood transfusion still carries a risk. This is because there is a window period in the early stage of infections such as HIV or Hepatitis when the virus cannot be detected by existing tests. There are also diseases such as dengue, where there is no licensed test available to screen the blood supply.

Hence, we also rely on potential blood donors to do their part. They must answer truthfully on the donor health assessment questionnaire and during the medical screening process. If they have already donated blood, but think that their blood is not suitable for transfusion, they should immediately contact the blood bank to stop the usage of the blood.

In the unlikely event of an infection through blood transfusion, the liability of the blood bank will depend on the circumstances leading to the infection. Patients will be compensated if there has been negligence involved. There would be no liability if it has done all it could to prevent such a transmission. Nevertheless, each case will have to be assessed on its own merit.