The Ministry of Health (MOH) represented by the Department of Blood Bank Services organized today (Sunday) the Second National Blood Transfusion Conference at the Royal Hospital Auditorium. The conference was held with the presence of Dr. Kadhem J’afer Al Lwati, Director General of Specialized Medical Care, and the participation of number of blood transfusion specialists, as well as the medical and technical staff from the Sultanate’s different blood banks.

Six specialists in the field of blood transfusion from the Sultanate and abroad spoke at the conference who shed light on the latest methods followed in the laboratory work, providing state-of-art knowledge regarding blood transfusion and components along with the quality and safe laboratory testing.

The two-day conference aimed at raising awareness of the participants on the significance of following the global quality guidelines applied in the various blood banks laboratories.

The conference agenda included a welcome speech delivered by Dr. Zainab Salim Al Fanah, Director of Blood Banks Services where she marked the importance of blood transfusion in the Sultanate, in addition to maintaining high competent blood banks personnel with constant performance development.

The two-day scientific program underlined the implementation of quality system essentials and resources in blood bank. Furthermore, it addressed different types of transfusion such as massive and neonatal, in addition to transfusion in pregnancy. Lectures touched upon the Iranian National Rare Donor Program and experience.

Moreover, the participants were introduced to quality control testing of blood components as well as process improvement and error management. The conference as well highlighted antibody of undetermined specificity, frequency, laboratory features and natural history, in addition to the challenges in providing compatible RBC units for antibody marker in Thalassemia patients