When will bloodless surgery become the norm?
I would like to commend the writer of the article above which appeared on page 20 of the May 21, 2014 issue of your newspaper for trying to educate the public on the importance of blood in medical practice. Indeed, it is a source of worry to every Ghanaian.
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It is true that blood transfusion throughout the world is an indispensible component of health and contributes to saving lives in both routine and emergency situations, permits complex and surgical interventions and improves the life expectancy and quality of life of patients as he put it. But it is also an undeniable fact that blood transfusion is not risk free:
The American Cancer Society enumerates blood transfusion risks of which some include; Transfusion reactions, Allergic reactions, Acute Immune hemolytic reactions, delayed hemolytic reactions, Graft-versus-host Disease and sometimes Transfusion Acute Lung Injury. It is also a fact that not all patients who receive blood transfusion survive. It can therefore not be said to be a 100-per cent life saver.
The writer also lamented about the 28.1 per cent voluntary donation rates in Ghana as compared to 98.3 and 92.1 per cent by Togo and Benin respectively. What could be the cause of the low percentage rate in Ghana? Could it be that there’s not enough education or no motivation? A friend’s mother was detained for several days in one of the hospitals until her daughter was able to donate the equivalent amount of blood given her before she was discharged. So if people donate blood freely and it is not given out freely, should we continue to donate?
The way forward
As it stands now, the possibility of the percentage dropping below 28.1 is high. So what should hospitals and doctors who are doing all their best to save our dear lives do?
Leading experts from over 40 countries gathered in Moscow for the 60th Jubilee International Congress of the European Society for Cardiovascular and endovascular Surgery on May 20-22, 2011. Attracting great attention on all the three days of the convention was a booth supplying information on medical alternatives to blood transfusion. From the booth was a group known as Hospital Information Service (H I S).
Doctors in the booth eagerly took hundreds of information folders, books, DVDs and medical articles on an important topic: Transfusion-Alternative Strategies – Simple, Safe, Effective. DVD video featuring this important topic was on high demand. A cardiac surgeon from Italy who spoke at the congress said he was well acquainted with the content of the video and he was successfully completed about 70 bloodless heart surgeries.
The world over, more and more doctors are seeing the advantages of bloodless medicines and bloodless surgery. There are a lot of blood transfusion alternatives such as volume expanders, growth factors, intra-operative or post- operative blood salvage, blood substitutes, and many more. We thank our gallant doctors who are doing their best to save our lives and we urge them to explore more in order to achieve their objective as doctors. We are waiting for a day where bloodless medicines will be declared a golden standard.
Writer’s email : Jonathan_ono@yahoo.com
