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The business of marking blood
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It's on the cards

  

The business of marking blood

18 Jan 2007

In a country with over 5.5-million of its people infected with HIV and road carnage resulting from over 700,000 accidents a year, blood is a precious commodity in South Africa. The correct marking and tracking of blood is crucial to reducing its wastage and ultimately saving more lives. Lithotech Labels – a division of marketing leading print specialists, Lithotech – is entering its 12th year of error-free blood marking and has unveiled a new, locally developed system to tackle SA’s growing need for faster blood delivery.

This verification system, a first of its kind in the world – developed in partnership with the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) – is designed to eradicate blood labelling mistakes such as duplications and provide a more accurate tracking service for the much needed 3,000 units of blood a day.

“It is imperative that safe measures are employed in the transfusion of blood as well as the labelling business of marking blood. The risk involved in the incorrect labelling and bar-coding of blood can easily result in someone losing their life,” says Rafeek Evans, Managing Director of Lithotech Labels.

750,000 units of blood are collected annually in SA and are evaluated at two testing centres in Johannesburg and Durban using an advanced NAT (Nucleic Acid Amplification testing) system. Blood that passes these tests is then marked using the new labelling system which incorporates 14 barcode labels each containing matching information of the donor, blood specifics and test results – all crucial and time saving information for paramedics at an accident scene or doctors operating in an emergency room.

“With factors such as the HIV pandemic impacting on blood processing, the end stage of marking leaves no room for error. In our country blood is a costly and scarce commodity that is extremely susceptible to risk and needs to be handled with due respect. This new system will make the delivery process more efficient – getting the blood faster to those who need it most,” says Evans.