Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has said that the faceless cartels behind blood shortage in the country’s blood bank must face the full force of the law. Rogue officers from the Kenya National Blood Transfusion Services (KNBTS) are alleged to have siphoned and sold blood donated by Kenyans in Somalia.
Kagwe has appreciated acknowledged receiving reports on the illegal sale of blood terming it unfortunate. This comes at the same time the new CS is struggling to keep the country free from the deadly coronavirus which has been declared pandemic by the World Health Organization.
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Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on last Wednesday launched investigations on KNBTS to find out the roles played by the officials that led to the creation of artificial blood shortage in the country.
“Investigations are on and we expect arrests to be made. There has been gaps within this sector and so we have asked DCI to investigate and unmask the criminals” Kagwe said.
The CS indicated that the donation of blood and managing was digitized for easy accountability. Speaking in a local media station, Kagwe said that he will ensure that the issue is dealt with once and for all.
Officers attached at the KNBTS have been hawking blood meant for kenyan hospitals both within and outside to other African countries including Somalia.
The Ministry is putting in place measures to deal with blood shortage once and for all and this will include a Bill to govern donation, processing and distribution of blood. The ministry will also set up an ICT system to aide in tracing the movement of blood from the source to the final stage when its transfused to a patient.
https://www.nation.co.ke/news/A-bloody-mess-inside-blood-bank/1056-5448148-8b4a67z/index.html
Concerns over blood shortage in Kenya were raised after Nakuru, Machakos, Garissa and Kisumu reported severe shortage with the blames being directed at KNBTS.
KNBTS is the country’s only blood bank, collecting, testing, processing and distributing blood to all transfusing hospitals in Kenya is however citing financial challenges as their banks have been running dry since U.S governments PEPFAR pulled out.
