Thirty four blood packets were discarded by the blood bank

National Thalassemia Centre has said that they have disposed of more than 17 packets of blood, even though the center has previously stated that amount was 17. They said the blood packets were discarded due to fault in the storage fridge.

On the 26th of last month, the Deputy Director General of Thalassemia Centre Abdul Gafoor Adam said that they had discarded 17 blood packets because the temperature of the storage fridge had increased, causing the blood packets to spoil.

When the heads of the Centre were summoned to the Parliament Committee on the Oversight of the Government, the person in-charge of the National Thalassemia Centre blood bank Fauziyya Ali said that a total 34 packets of blood were discarded during the incident. The blood was donated by 34 different individuals.

The Centre told the parliament committee that they were unaware of what had caused the fault in the fridge.

“We really don’t know what happened to it. It was kept overnight for two days. When we opened it on Saturday, it was faulty. We did not even move it,” Fauziyya said.

There are more than 250 thalassemia patients currently living in Male’. Parents of the patients and the Maldivian Thalassemia Society have raised their concern to the parliament committee regarding the status of the Centre, which provides treatment for thalassemia patients free of charge.

Having disposed of a number of blood packets, parents of the patients have again been asked to seek blood for transfusions.