ASSOCHAM's Round Table Conference on Safe Blood Transfusions: Focusing on Thalassemia

Having a robust and safe blood transfusion service is a life-saving and critical component of any well-functioning healthcare system with patient safety playing a central role. Sub-par screening of blood or blood products may result in propagation of infectious agents including human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) 1 and 2, hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C. Other infections that may be propagated include malaria, syphilis, human T-lymphotropic virus types 1 and 2 and in certain circumstances, hepatitis A virus, cytomegalovirus, parvovirus B19, and many more.

The establishment of systems to ensure that all donated blood is screened for transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) is a core component of every national blood programme. However, there remain serious variations between countries, in screening practices for donated blood as well as overall quality and effectiveness of the blood screening process. As a result, in many countries including India, the recipients of blood and blood products remain at unacceptable risk of acquiring life-threatening infections that could easily be prevented.

Blood is a vital healthcare resource routinely used in a broad range of hospital procedures. It is also a potential vector for harmful, and sometimes fatal, infectious diseases such as HIV, HBV, and HCV. India has the second highest pool of HIV persons estimated at 5.7 million and 3-5% HBV and 1-2% HCV cases reported in the population of almost 1.3 billion. While everyone who is going for blood transfusion must be concerned with the quality of blood, certain patient groups who are more susceptible to transfusion transmitted infections due to repeated blood transfusions have a greater reason to be concerned with the quality of blood. Patients of thalassemia who are blood transfusion dependent are one such group.

With this background, ASSOCHAM in collaboration with Thalassemia Patients Advocacy Group (a Thalassemics India initiative), is organizing a Round Table Conference on “Safe Blood Transfusions: Focusing on Thalassemia”, on 2^nd December 2022, at Hotel Shangri -La, New Delhi.

The conference will see experts from across the stakeholder spectrum (covering policy making at Central & State level, medicine, blood banking, advocacy, corporate, civil society, patient community, etc.) discuss various aspects of blood safety. The expected outcome of the event is to collate facts and perspectives and assimilate the same into the National thought process around ensuring safe blood transfusion services.