Program Activities-Business Operation
Current Status of Blood Donation and Supply
2012 blood donation targets: Whole blood donation 2,307,000 units (250cc / unit); aphaeresis donation 197,500 units; 500ml donation 35.2%. Actual donation : Whole blood donation 2,333,467 units; aphaeresis donation 221,866 units; 500ml donation 35.95%. All targets met for the year.
The blood donation rate per population in 2012 was 7.89%, which was still way ahead of many developed countries; due to the decreased hospital demands in 2012, blood donations were less than 2011 and resulted with a negative growth of 1.08%. Moreover, to improve the quality of blood and satisfy medical needs, the blood centers of the TBSF continued to strengthen the preparation of pre-stored apheresis platelets with the annual distribution of 219,007 units, which accounted for 86.1% of totlal platelets supply. Of the 219,007 units, Leukocyte-reduced Apheresis Platelets amounted for 21.01% of the apheresis platelets ; showing a 7.7% growth from 2010.
The pre- storage prepared Leukocyte-reduced blood components had been widely used in most developed countries such as Japan, America, and Europe--to reduce adverse reactions of blood transfusion and improve blood quality. The advantage is especially significant compared to bed-side preparation by hospitals in reducing adverse reactions of blood transfusion. Our Leukocyte-reduced products supply include Leukocyte-reduced red blood cells and Leukocyte-Reduced Apheresis Platelets; both are our highly promoted focus for the recent years, and have been increasingly used by numerous public and private hospitals.
Blood Plasma Derived Products from Domestic Blood
Blood preparations such as Human Albumin, Immunoglobulin, Coagulation Factor VIII, and Coagulation Factor IX are essential to many patients in hospitals, such as hemophilia patients. Yet, for many years, almost all of them have been imported. To comply with the "Domestic Blood For Domestic Use " policy of the government health policy, and to help lessen the shortage of blood products in the country, TBSF had started in January 2007 to collect source plasma. The source plasma collected is commissioned by batch for forwarding to the Bioplasma Division of the Australian CSL Limited for the manufacturing of various plasma products. A total of 30,385.3 kg in 2007, 31,055.5 kg in 2008, 41,646.1 kg in 2009, and 10,350.6 kg in 2010 of plasma had been shipped to the Australian CSL. The source plasma are manufactured into four blood plasma products : 20% Human Albumin solutions, Human Immunoglobulin for intravenous use, 250 IU Coagulation Factor VIII injection, and 500 IU Coagulation Factor IX injection for supply to medical care institutions. Currently TBSF's Immunoglobulin was the only source of supply in Taiwan, which had already reached the goal of 100% self-sufficiency.
Furthermore, based on the humanitarian aids purpose and to effectively utilize the valuable medical resources, TBSF had donated 3,820 vials of Coagulation Factor VIII injection through the World Federation of Hemophilia in August 2012, to benefit other countries in need.
Strengthening of Blood Safety for Prevention of Post-Transfusional Infections
1. To strengthen the donor interview screening before blood donation to stop the occurrence of HIV infection through blood transfusion--TBSF continued in 2011 to promote the "Minimizing HIV Blood Donation" project. The blood centers used educational videos and posters to remind people of high-risk groups to refrain from donating blood. A "private interview space" was set up in each blood center, blood station and mobile van to allow donors to respond honestly in a private environment to the interview and relevant questions. Experts have also been invited to conduct on-job training on the improvement of blood safety, and to improve the skills of workers in screening and interviewing the high-risk groups. In addition, contents of the "Conscientious Call-back" leaflet have been revised periodically. On the back-page of the leaflet, names and addresses of hospitals commissioned by the Department of Health for anonymous screening of AIDS are listed and provided. Blood donors are urged not to use blood donation as a means for screening AIDS. The ratio of HIV positive among donation was 3.76 per hundred thousand donations, which reached the lowest in the last 4 years. It's apparently a great achievement and proves the effectness of our efforts.
2. To increase the quality of blood and reduce transfusion adverse reaction, our blood centers continued to promote the use of pre-stored Leukocyte-reduced blood components and increase the inventory which completely fufills the requirements of the GMP standard. Furthermore, through this practice from blood centers, hospitals can reduce training cost and work load.
3. To strengthen the technique and practical training of interviewers, in 2011, training programs on blood collection interview had been extensively conducted by specialists; auditing and investigation by mysterious customers had been conducted to analyze the interviewing practice to reduce donations from the high-risk groups.