Mohammed Al-Ihaidib Okaz newspaper There is absolutely no truth to the Ministry of Health's claim that what happened to Reham Al-Hakami, the innocent 13-year-old girl who contracted HIV through a mistaken blood transfusion at the Jazan Public Hospital, was the result of an individual mistake. This tragic incident is in fact the result of a number of administrative and technical errors that the authorities have been notified of before. Hospital blood blanks have been an area of concern particularly when it comes to the availability of blood, employment of unqualified personnel on bar code scanners and the testing methods utilized to reduce the risk of transfusion related events. The problem began as an administrative one when the authority enjoyed by the director of labs and blood banks was given to the director of medical supplies who later became the deputy minister for medical supplies and engineering affairs. This administrative change meant that the method of scanning bar codes on blood bags was also altered. Instead of scanning each bag separately, bags were grouped together in lots of 6 or 12 and if a contamination was detected in one of the lots, a search would be conducted for the contaminated bag. This method was employed as a cost-cutting measure so additional scanners would not have to be purchased. As a result of this change, the then director of labs and blood banks decided to step down. He had asked to be granted early retirement but his request was denied and he was transferred to another department. The important thing here is that he is gone and so is the comprehensive surveillance and screening of blood bags. With due respect to the ongoing investigations, the only explanation as to why Reham was given HIV-contaminated blood is because an un-screened bag was mixed with screened bags. According to her mother, a few hours after the blood transfusion took place, a team from the hospital showed up at their house and asked that Reham return to the hospital. The contamination had been detected by now but it was too late to do anything. This would not have happened if strict controls on the scanning of blood bags' bar codes were in place and bags were double checked to ensure the safety of the hospital's blood bank. There is no doubt that this unfortunate incident is the result of rushed decisions, ill-advised administrative actions and the employment of unqualified personnel. There is also an equally high chance of a blood transfusion-related accident from occurring in another hospital.
