Woman’s death not caused by blood transfusion: report
KARACHI: A three-member inquiry committee, constituted by Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed to probe into the sudden death of a young woman at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) on Feb 22, has declared that the death was not the result of a blood transfusion.
Additional health secretary (administration) Anjum Jumani was the head of the committee while secretary of the Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority (SBTA) Dr Zahid H. Ansari and Police Surgeon Hamid A. Paryar were the members of the committee.
The committee concluded in its report that the blood given to the woman, Rashida Sajid, daughter of Ahmad Din Sajid, was safe and healthy.
A source in the provincial health department told Dawn that the inquiry was ordered following media reports that a young woman had died after allegedly receiving wrong type of blood in a transfusion at the JPMC.
Initially the committee was not appreciated in the health circles for being a provincial group of officers intervening in the affairs of a hospital governed by the federal government, the source said.
However, things settled down when inquiry committee member and SBTA secretary Dr Zahid Ansari discussed the issue with JPMC blood bank chief Dr Mohammad Anwer and made him realise that all the blood banks working in the province and registered with and regulated by the SBTA were supposed to respond to the provincial health department.
According to Dr Ansari, the SBTA has the power to ‘de-register’ and seal any of the registered blood banks in the province and can order imposition of a fine or sentence up to three years for contravening the provisions of the Sindh Safe Blood Transfusion Act, 1997 and amendments made in 2005.
After going through relevant documents, including the request slip, records of the blood grouping, cross matching of blood, screening and written statement of Dr Anwer, the inquiry committee came up with the conclusion that the death of the young woman was not caused by a blood transfusion reaction or wrong blood grouping, said the source.
The committee also recommended in its report submitted to the Sindh health minister that the inquiry might be closed, the source added.
JPMC blood bank chief Dr Anwer had said in his statement that his section had received a request slip from emergency of JPMC at 3pm on Feb 21 for four pints of blood packed cell volume (PCV).
After proper blood grouping and cross matching, five pints of A+ve blood were arranged due to the critical condition of the patient, but three pints of the blood were issued and two pints were still with the section, he said.
On Feb 23, Dr Anwer also appeared before the JPMC inquiry committee which unanimously ruled out the possibility of a blood reaction or wrong blood grouping, sources said.
When contacted by Dawn, SBTA secretary Dr Ansari said that a grouping and cross matching exercise was repeated for the purpose of the inquiry and things were found to be in line with the details of the JPMC documents made available to the probe team.
Source: Dawn
Date:2/26/2010
” 
” 
” 
” 
