Blood Bank Blues

“Donating blood is a very personal act of charity, because you can’t just write a cheque,” said Patricia Green from Glencoe in a letter to the editor. Hers was the second letter last week complaining about the attitude of the staff and the bureaucracy at the Blood Bank in Port-of-Spain.

Mr V F Nothnagel-Gurley, from Blue Range, had called in advance to enquire about the procedure, and was told that opening hours were from 8am to 3pm. He arrived promptly at 12.15 pm with three precious donors, and was “flabbergasted” to be told: “We stop taking blood for today.” His protest that he had called in advance and was told that the facility would be opened until 3 pm met this response: “Well, yuh talk to the wrong people; yuh talk to dem upstairs and they don’t know what going on down here.”

Mr Gurley’s liquid-hot frustration is felt by one and all, as he reminds us: “Understand clearly that we are talking about people in the same building, in the same room, within spitting distance of each other.” He is referred to the nurse who condescendingly tells him to come back at 2 pm and she might talk with him then, or else “come back tomorrow.”

Understandably, the man became upset, but instead of showing compassion, security was called in to force him to apologise to the disgraceful nurse. Unfortunately, Mr Gurley’s experience is not uncommon. Dozens of people come into my office every week to seek “justice,” as a result of similar experiences.

In one case, the young man quite rightly reprimanded the nurse because of the tone and manner in which she spoke to his ailing mother, and was assaulted by security guards because he refused to apologise.

A pregnant mother who needed urgent help fell and lost her baby, but overheard one nurse telling another: “Man, leh she stay dey and wait, yes! When she was taking she ting I wasn’t dey tuh help she.”

A Republic Bank officer, who was made to wait for an unreasonably long period of time at the Licensing Office, only to be rudely told by the cashier that “we closing early fuh lunch today,” when he was next in line and stood his ground because it was 11.30 am, was hauled out by security officers who totally humiliated him in the presence of laughing staff whose salaries are paid by his tax dollars.

I could go on and on. The point is, whether it’s applying for a passport, driver’s licence, donating blood, making a report to a police station or querying a public utilities bill, it’s the same old story of boldfaced inefficiency, incompetence and laziness. And no one seems to care. It’s just the public service mentality. We are at their mercy. We cannot complain and dare not demand disciplinary action against these sacred, hoggish cows.

Imagine the Blood Bank was refusing to accept a donation of blood in a life-threatening situation, because the distraught relative did not have identification on him. His blood is clean, could save a life and he is willing to give it, but he did not have his ID and is prevented from giving blood.

The Blood Bank would literally prefer someone die than have blood from a donor without a national ID card at the time they donated blood.

So much for screening the blood, I guess.

Imagine the doctors who have to perform emergency operations have no direct access to the Blood Bank. Imagine the Blood Bank is “closed” on public holidays and at nights, and the person with authorised access cannot always be located. You must look on helplessly while your loved one slowly dies with your own blood boiling in your veins. Eager to give blood, you are apologetically told that only the (closed) Blood Bank could receive donations.

Does the Blood Bank not know that doctors and patients need immediate access to blood 24/7 in case of emergencies, including public holidays?

Why is there no place/procedure to donate blood in emergencies when the Blood Bank is closed? Can the system not be more user-friendly, with a computerised database containing information blood groups, donors and their location, to minimise problems posed by patients with rare blood types?

Why does the Blood Bank make it so difficult for people to perform the most unselfish act of giving their blood? The system has chased away many like Patricia who were willing to donate blood. How many more must die before someone intervenes to stop the madness?

If the Minister of Health was serious about improving the health system, he would apologise to these victims, take disciplinary action and change the system.

by Anand Ramlogan