ISLAMABAD: The review meeting of the Public Sector Development Projects (PSDP) 2017-18, held in Islamabad, on Tuesday, approved the financial budget of Safe Blood Transfusion Project (SBTP) without any cuts.
The review meeting was held to assess the physical and financial progress of budgeted development projects for the financial year 2017-18.
The meeting approved financial cuts in case of many slow-moving or non-performing projects.
The performance and progress of the Safe Blood Transfusion Project (SBTP) was also reviewed. Planning, Development and Reforms Minister Ahsan Iqbal who chaired the meeting expressed satisfaction over the progress of the project and appreciated its achievements.
SBTP National Coordinator Professor Hasan Abbas Zaheer has been responsible for the implementation of the project since its inception in 2010.
The Ministry of Health had established the Safe Blood Transfusion Programme in 2010 with the support of the German government through its KfW funded financial cooperation component and GIZ funded technical cooperation component.
In the last seven years, significant progress has been made in establishing and strengthening the blood regulatory system, blood supply system and blood transfusion system in Pakistan.
Blood transfusion authorities have been revived throughout the country while a network of modern regional blood centres supporting hospital-based blood banks has been developed and the associated supporting technical work is being conducted including capacity building, voluntary blood donation promotion, revising legislation, curriculum development and advocacy.
The first phase of the project was successfully completed in 2016, in which a network of large modern regional blood centres was developed to create a new blood supply system.
These centres have now started to become operational and are providing direct benefit to the patients in the shape of safe blood components through hospital blood banks which have been renovated by the project. The blood supply and blood transfusion system has been strengthened along with the reformation of the regulation system.
The second phase of the project was started in 2016 in which the scope and coverage of the project was further expanded to include the creation of more regional blood centers supporting the linked hospital blood banks and the up-gradation of large public sector blood centers as well as strengthening of the regulatory system, through continued support of the German government.
