Healthcare professionals specializing in blood transfusion and liver disease have strongly opposed the practice of conducting blood transfusions in non-medical settings, emphasizing the inherent risks and legal implications associated with such actions.
They have raised concerns about the dangers of conducting blood transfusions outside of regulated medical environments, highlighting the potential for complications arising from such procedures and the transmission of serious blood-borne infections like Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV.
Reports have surfaced regarding the unauthorized collection of blood from donors by unqualified individuals, leading to transfusions without proper screening measures. This poses significant health risks to both donors and recipients, with instances of Hepatitis infections linked to home-based blood transfusions.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the transmission of Hepatitis C is more likely through unscreened blood transfusions, as well as through activities such as tattooing, body piercing, sharing injection equipment, or engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse with infected individuals.
The World Health Organization emphasizes that Hepatitis C is primarily transmitted through blood contact, underscoring the importance of safe healthcare practices, screened blood transfusions, and risk-reduction strategies to prevent the spread of this blood-borne virus.
In an effort to raise awareness and promote action against viral hepatitis, the WHO designates July 28 as World Hepatitis Day, aiming to educate the public and advocate for the elimination of hepatitis globally.
Moreover, various organizations, such as the American Cancer Society, have outlined potential side effects of blood transfusions, including allergic reactions such as itching, fever, breathing difficulties, facial swelling, and dizziness.
To ensure the safety and quality of blood transfusions in Nigeria, the National Blood Service Commission is tasked with regulating the supply of accessible and reliable blood products for the population. Compliance with national standards, such as the National Blood Safety Standards for Blood Establishments in Nigeria (August 2021), is essential to guarantee that blood-related procedures are conducted under controlled and safe conditions.
It further stated that “blood shall be collected from healthy, voluntary non-remunerated donors identified by the Blood Establishment to be at low-risk for transfusion transmissible infections.
“Blood group serology and testing for infectious diseases shall be carried out on a specimen collected at the time of donation, on every unit of whole blood or apheresis unit collected.”
Also, the website of the Lagos State Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency, states, “It is an offence to transfuse blood without Lagos State Logo.”
Prof. Akinbami Abduljaleel
According to Naijatraffic, Professor Akinbami Abduljaleel, a Haematology and Blood Transfusion expert at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, stated that blood transfusions outside a hospital or medical setting are unsafe and illegal, except in cases where trained medical personnel perform the transfusion in an ambulance.
He emphasized that home transfusions are discouraged due to potential recipient reactions that require hospital equipment, regardless of whether the personnel are trained or untrained.
hospital.
“Blood transfusion is a criminal offence in Lagos and Nigeria. The reason it is discouraged is the possibility of having a reaction that will require some equipment like oxygen that may not be available at home.
“Blood transfusion is a tissue transplant because you are receiving donated tissue, (blood is a tissue) from a donor so there could be adverse reaction and rejection of the tissue by the recipient. This can be fatal if you don’t have the equipment needed to support the reaction.
“So whether by trained personnel or not, it’s better done in a hospital setting or ambulance where if there’s a need to suction, if the patient goes into cardiac or respiratory arrest, you have a suctioning machine. Also, if the person needs oxygen you can quickly give oxygen, which may not be available at home,” Abduljaleel said.
The haematologist highlighted that recipients of blood transfusion at home ,especially those who received them at the hands of untrained and unlicensed practitioners were at risk of transfusion transmissible infections and complications.
He elaborated that they were also at risk of blood-borne infections such as HIV, Hepatitis B and C, syphilis and malaria.
“Before blood is certified fit for transfusion we screen them for these infections. We also screen the blood donors for HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis in Lagos State with a good screening kit called Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and after the screening we put a logo to certify the pint of blood fit. The Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service is responsible for coordinating donation and collection of blood,” the don mentioned.
The blood transfusion expert further asserted that before blood transfusion can be considered safe, it must be crossmatched and compatible with the recipient’s blood group.
“If you give a group incompatible blood, the body of the recipient will reject it and may even cause immediate death of the recipient. So there are immediate complications of blood transfusion and there are late complications so it is possible to put up the blood and the person develops fever and rigour (severe chills with violent shivering) and dies in the next one or two minutes of receiving the blood. That is why it is not safe to give blood at home,” he noted.
The professor of haematology continued, “It’s an act of parliament passed in 2001 by Lagos State House of Assembly that any blood unit that must be used in private or public facilities and hospitals must carry that logo which will be obtained after the screening in accredited centres. It is a criminal offence to use unscreened blood. It happens, some quacks will just bleed someone without going through screening and then transfuse immediately but if such a person is caught, they will be made to face the law.”
Dr. Abubakar Maiyaki, a Consultant Physician and Gastroenterologist, reported that home blood transfusions are widespread in rural areas, where neither donors nor blood are screened for infectious diseases before transfusion.
He also observed that healthcare workers in these areas often administer blood transfusions recklessly, without proper testing, at the mere mention of a persistent illness, further highlighting the risks involved.
Maiyaki said, “In the villages, you still see people transfusing blood without having it tested and screened for infections. This is being done seriously in the villages. You see health workers who would hear a patient say, ‘Oh, I’m sick, come and transfuse me’ and will do so.”
The General Secretary for the Society for Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Nigeria, also said, “Recently, someone in Sokoto who I admitted was telling me, he had been transfused with blood three times at home, with unscreened blood! This patient eventually died of Hepatocellular Cancer of the liver from Hepatitis B.”
The hepatologist issued a warning against the practice, emphasizing that blood not tested for infectious diseases can harbor blood-borne pathogens like hepatitis, and recipients of such blood risk suffering the severe consequences of chronic viral infection, potentially leading to death.
