From the Editor
From the Editor
Our cover story this week is on Safe Blood. Clinical use of blood for transfusion has to be clean and safe for human health. That means blood to transfuse must be free from all sorts of infectious agents.
Blood transfusions are usually used to support various treatments. In high income countries, transfusion is mostly used often to support advanced medical and surgical treatment and complex surgeries. In low income and middle income countries it is often used for management of pregnancy related complications, trauma surgeries and open heart surgeries. In the medical side blood transfusion is used for correcting anemia and thalassemia and certain kidney and cancer diseases.
Assuring safe blood transfusion, bloods needs to be screened for infection prior to use. Screening should be mandatory for HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and other VDs such as Syphilis etc. Then the donors and recipients blood must be cross matched. Always preference should be given to donated bloods which are supposed to be comparatively much safer than the blood collected from the various commercial blood selling centers. All the countries should try to build up storage of safe blood collected from voluntary non-remunerated blood donors which is the corner stone of a safe and sufficient blood supply. It may be mentioned that remunerated blood may not be screened properly and usually contains infections which may be transferred to the recipient and may cause severe danger. As blood transfusion saves lives and improves health and transfusions are also used to support various treatments, an adequate supply of safe blood is required which only can be assured through regular donations of blood by healthy people.
