Abstract

The study was conducted with the objectives to investigate the adoption of WHO standard operating procedures (SOP) for blood screening in hospitals of Islamabad. For the current study, a comprehensive questionnaire was designed and the data were collected from three main hospitals of Islamabad. The study revealed that standard operating procedures were not followed in majority of the hospitals of Islamabad. The SOP was only displayed in one blood bank and not in the other two blood banks. In total, three blood banks were included for the current study analysis. There was no post of quality control officer in all the hospitals. In two third of the surveyed hospitals, haematologist facility was available only on part time in day shift, whereas no trained phlebotomist was available, and that reflects the poor supervision conditions of hospitals of Islamabad. The transfusion of poor blood quality poses a threat for the spread of hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that reflect the alarming aspect of health environments in Pakistan that needs to be rectified at the earlier stage. No doubt the blood is screened in hospitals of Islamabad, but the risk of poor quality prevails due to lack of trained and experienced manpower in the hospitals of Islamabad. The WHO standard operating procedure needs to be adopted for blood screening in hospitals of Islamabad.

Key words: WHO standard operating procedures (SOP), blood screening, Islamabad capital.