The Lagos State Government has cordoned off a private hospital at Ago-Okota in the Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area for collecting unscreened and unlabeled blood and administering it to unsuspecting patients.
Dr. Bodunrin Osikomaiya, the executive secretary of the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service,–LSBTS, had disclosed this information through a statement released on Sunday, October 15 by Tunbosun Ogunbanwo, the Director of Public Affairs for the State Ministry of Health.
Osikomaiya had revealed that after receiving a tip from a concerned citizen, the LSBTS closed off the facility in partnership with the state Health Facilities Monitoring and Accreditation Agency.
She noted that the facility was closed due to contravention of the blood transfusion service law, unethical and unprofessional medical practices, as well as the endangerment of the lives of unsuspecting patients.
The law demands that no individual from within Lagos State shall transfuse blood into a patient unless such blood has been screened, tested and labelled by the state blood transfusion committee, and thereafter found to be negative for all transmissible diseases, including HIV I and II, Hepatitis B and C, Syphilis, and any other disease as may be deemed important by the LSBTS,” she added.
The executive secretary had noted that the patients who were given the unscreened units of blood at the facility were being tracked down as part of the protocol to determine their clinical health status and ensure their safety.
Osikomaiya had also emphasised that the hospital’s management and any employees found to have taken part in the improper act would face the law.
She continued by saying that the agency had revised its tactics for sanitising the state against unprincipled blood transfusion and was still battling the insalubrious practice of transfusing unscreened blood in the state.
To help curb unwholesome blood transfusion, Osikomaiya enjoined citizens to report any infraction and unwholesome behaviour they observed.
She also appealed to medical professionals and other parties concerned with the blood transfusion chain (blood banks, donation facilities, and logistics companies) to rigorously abide by state blood transfusion laws and the rules proposed by the World Health Organization–WHO regarding blood donation, collection, and transfusion.
