Some Aspects of Blood Transfusion Practice In West Africa

Abstract

Blood transfusion began in Ghana in 1954 at the Medica1 Research Institute Laboratories, Korle-Bu, to meet the demand by surgeons and obstetricians. Until about ten years ago over sixty per cent of blood usage in Ghana was for surgery Surgeons and obstetricians have therefore played and continue to play significant roles in the development of transfusion medicine in West Africa especially in those countries without transfusion medicine experts. As indicated below, the pattern of blood usage in Ghana has changed with diseases of children and women making the most demand on the blood supply. Practice of blood transfusion for a long time was on the basis of "bleed and give" with only a casual check on the donor's blood hemoglobin and enquiries on a past history of jaundice. Until recently there was no screening for syphilis or hepatitis B. The blood was given immediately or stored in a sma11 blood bank refrigerator or domestic refrigerator for a few hours or days.