Crisis at the blood bank

By Andrea Sophocleous

THE NICOSIA General Hospital’s Blood Bank is cramped for space, has no specialised doctors and wastes money on buying faulty equipment.

These dire problems, along with reports that staff refuse to work night shifts when the one worker who works nights is on sick leave, were discussed at the House Health Committee yesterday.

While applauding the work of Blood Bank employees, Diko deputy Katerina Pantelidou, who tabled the issue, argued that the Nicosia Blood Bank was burdened by operational problems due to a lack of specialist doctors and space.

Pantelidou’s claims were confirmed by Health Ministry and Blood Bank representatives, who nonetheless described the Blood Bank as the “pride of our services”.

Health Ministry representative, Androulla Agrotou, admitted that there was a serious shortage of space for storing medical equipment, but said “we must be patient”.

She pointed out that the problem would be solved in three years’ time with the opening of the new Nicosia General Hospital.

In the meantime, the only comfort she could offer the Blood Bank was the assurance that the matter of additional space would be investigated.

Agrotou said that there had been a doctor on site at the Blood Bank for the last three years, but he was not a blood specialist.

Pantelidou further claimed that government services approved the purchase of medical equipment, but that the Blood Bank did not have staff with the relevant training to maintain the equipment. In one case, new equipment was bought and was found to be faulty on arrival. Pantelidou condemned this “waste of money” as the equipment was left unused for three years and now the Health Ministry was planning to purchase more of the same.

After outlining the importance of the Blood Bank, its representative, Christakis Tamakoudis confirmed that the faulty equipment had been bought in 1995 at a cost of £11,500. He told the Committee that Blood Bank staff had asked for more reliable machinery, but that the funding committee opted for the cheaper equipment.

Staff attending the meeting complained of the pressures and many demands on them, telling the committee that there were cases when they worked until 2am, and then had to be back at work again by 7.30am. They asked that a second worker be employed to cover night shifts so that they would not be called to cover for the single night shift worker whenever he was sick.