PROTECTION OF PATIENTS RECEIVING BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS

Mr Ahmad Mohd Magad asked the Minister for Health what further procedures can be instituted to increase the protection of patients receiving blood through transfusions.

Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed asked the Minister for Health whether the incident when two blood transfusion recipients contacted the HIV virus had resulted in the people losing confidence in the blood donation/transfusion system and what is being done to address the problem.

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: The incident of the two blood transfusion recipients contracting the HIV virus has indeed raised public concern over the safety of our blood transfusion service.

To address these concerns and to assure the public of the safety of our blood service, my Ministry has explained several times through the mass media our comprehensive blood collection procedures and the safeguards that have been put in place. We have presented the relevant facts to the general public in a concise and easy-to-understand manner to avoid undue alarm and to maintain confidence in our blood transfusion service. At the hospital level, our doctors are also re-assuring patients needing surgical operations that the blood transfusion, should they need one, is safe.

The Singapore Blood Transfusion Service (SBTS) has continually introduced new measures to improve the safety of our national blood supply as and when these are available and approved for use in the developed countries. The safety standards of our blood collection system are comparable to those used in developed countries including USA, UK and Australia. Besides adopting stringent procedures to screen blood donors, state-of-the-art methods of laboratory testing are being used to test donated blood at the SBTS. In addition, an independent external agency from Australia carries out annual audits of SBTS' blood collection and processing procedures.

However, due to the limitations in currently available technology, there is an inherent risk, one that is extremely low, of contracting HIV through blood transfusion. All blood transfusion services in the world face these limitations. Until technological advancements can detect HIV infected blood during the "window period" of two to three weeks, we need to rely on other means to ensure that our national blood supply is safe. The most important are continually educating the public on blood donation, and encouraging those who do not engage in high risk behaviour to come forward to donate blood and help save lives, and ensuring that we have effective screening procedures for blood donors at the blood donation centres.

The Ministry has reviewed the process for screening blood donors and will be taking measures to further strengthen public and donor education. The aim of such education is to raise public awareness on AIDS and other infectious diseases which are transmissible by blood transfusion. Persons with high risk of exposure to infectious diseases, including AIDS, must not donate blood, and we must strongly discourage them from doing so.

The Ministry will also embark on a programme to train our counsellors at the Blood Transfusion Service to improve their effectiveness in interviewing potential donors. They need to be discreet, yet effective, in conveying the message to intending donors that they have to withdraw from the blood donation session if they are in the high risk group. My ministry will also be improving the blood donor questionaire to enable donors to withdraw discreetly, and without embarrassment, at the end of the interview.

The Ministry is very appreciative of the selflessness and civic-mindedness of the very large number of regular donors who take time to donate their blood at the BTS. As our blood transfusion service rely on voluntary blood donation from the public, we have to maintain a fine balance between imposing criteria on blood donors that are overly inquisitorial, and having an adequate supply of blood in our national blood bank to save lives.