Taiz.. Health laboratory materials and blood transfusion center are threatened with damage due to continuous power outages (special report)

The National Center for Public Health Laboratories has recently begun to rely on its generators, but they stop working at a rate of 17 hours a day, while the National Center for Blood Transfusion and Research shares them with it, which contains materials that are perishable in the event of a power outage and the stoppage of the devices designated for preserving them, such as blood bags and blood products, and frozen plasma.

Meanwhile, we received special information indicating that the Central Organization for Control and Accounting opened an investigation into the loss of quantities of fuel provided to the National Center for Public Health Laboratories in Taiz, during the period of its reliance on the generators of the Al-Thawra Hospital Authority, which complains from time to time about the cessation of its activity due to the depletion of fuel.

damaged materials

The National Blood Transfusion and Research Center relies on a continuous supply of electricity to preserve its stock of perishable materials, such as whole blood samples that require storage at a temperature of 2° to 6°, in addition to platelets that are stored at a temperature of 20° to 24° with continuous stirring.

While frozen plasma used for hemophilia patients, liver patients, and severe bleeding cases requires storage at a temperature of 18 degrees below zero or less, large quantities of it have already been damaged due to thawing during the past week.

In this context, the Quality Officer at the National Center for Blood Transfusion and Research, Hani Malhi, said, “Since the beginning of last week, blood bags have been dispensed directly, while the remaining quantities are dispensed to the blood bank at Al-Thawra Hospital at the end of each day, and the center does not keep any stock.”

Speaking to Yemen Youth Net, Malhi pointed out that "the center has stopped dispensing frozen plasma in the past few days, except for what is withdrawn on the same day."

He added: "On Wednesday, December 4, we stopped the process of separating the components because we were unable to keep them in light of the conditions the center has been going through since the beginning of the week."

In a related context, Malhi pointed out that "the center has a solar energy system, and is currently awaiting the final procedures for its delivery," noting that it is expected to be received "at the beginning of next week, according to the explanation of the contractor responsible for installing it."

He stressed that "the National Center for Blood Transfusion and Research took the decision to destroy its stock of frozen plasma, but due to the lack of a dedicated incinerator, the center delayed implementing the decision until the director returned, in order to take the necessary measures," he said.

He added, "The temperature is not suitable for keeping it, due to the power outage for long hours, because the plasma, after melting, if it is not used, cannot be refrozen and must be destroyed."

He continued: "The center's freezers retain cold inside them for long periods, and only the thawed units will be destroyed. As for the units that are still frozen, they will not be destroyed, unless they are opened for long periods, and this is what we are avoiding these days."

He explained that "the blood transfusion center does not have any energy sources or fuel allocations, nor an operating budget since 2017, except for what the central laboratory provides to the blood transfusion center in terms of providing a source of energy, which was in partnership with Al-Thawra Hospital."

It is worth noting that the National Center for Blood Transfusion and Research, despite its independence, shares with the National Center for Public Health Laboratories in Taiz the building and all water, electricity, cleaning and security services, while they also share one director, Dr. Ahmed Mansour, Director of the Blood Transfusion Center and Director of the Health Laboratories Center at the same time.

Endangered chemicals

The National Center for Public Health Laboratories contains reagents and chemical solutions that require storage at a specific temperature, such as reagents used in laboratory tests, which need to be stored at a low temperature, usually between 2° to 8°, and in some cases 20° below zero.

To explain how the center deals with perishable materials, Dr. Jalal Al Hammadi, Deputy Director of the National Center for Public Health Laboratories, simply said: “They are all working and the refrigerators are keeping them cold, and we understand that.”

Speaking to Yemen Youth Net, Al-Hamadi added: “It was one day when the power was cut off during the evening, and currently the generators are operated in the evening for two to three hours.”

He continued: "Currently, we cannot operate the generator for 24 hours a day. The first day, we operated until 2 pm, but recently we operate it for an additional two or three hours during the evening."

Power outage

After years of relying on the generators of the Al-Thawra Hospital Authority in exchange for its fuel allocations provided by the World Health Organization to the hospital, the National Center for Public Health Laboratories in Taiz, with which the Blood Transfusion and Research Center shares energy services, decided to rely on its new generators.

In this context, Dr. Jalal Al Hammadi pointed out that, “during the past period, the central laboratory was supplying the fuel it received from the World Health Organization to the Al-Thawra Hospital Authority, in exchange for supplying it with electricity.”

Al-Hamadi added in his interview with "Yemeni Youth Net", "This was under the pretext that the generator of the central laboratory was out of service and no longer working, and this situation continued for years."

Open investigation

The report’s author obtained information indicating that the Control and Accounting Authority has opened an investigation with the management of the National Center for Public Health Laboratories in Taiz, regarding the loss of large quantities of fuel allocated to the center over the past years.

When searching for an official confirmation or denial from the center’s management, the Deputy Director of the National Center for Public Health Laboratories declined to comment and merely said: “You can ask this question to the director of the center.”

In the context of searching for the truth of the information indicating that the Control and Accounting Authority investigated the center’s management regarding the loss of quantities of fuel allocated to the center, Dr. Ahmed Mansour, Director of the National Center for Public Health Laboratories in Taiz, who is also the Director of the National Center for Blood Transfusion and Research, said that “the issue was merely observations from the Control Authority for the center during inspection and monitoring.”

Mansour explained in his interview with "Yemeni Youth Net" that "the comments of the Oversight and Accounting Authority were responded to at the time," noting that this was "at the end of last October."

It is worth noting that the Central Laboratory Administration was satisfied with that, without providing an official denial or confirmation of the truth of the investigation by the Control and Accounting Authority into the loss of quantities of fuel allocations for the center.