Brava Health Department already has its own blood transfusion station

The Health Department on Ilha Brava already has a blood transfusion station and health professionals trained to respond in cases of emergencies to minimize some complications in the transfer of patients.

This information was released to the press by the hematologist and head of the National Transfusion Safety Program, Conceição Pinto, explaining that with this post on Brava, Cape Verde is already 100 percent (%) prepared to provide this type of service to patients.

For the doctor, the creation of this blood transfusion center equipped with trained health professionals is a reason for “great satisfaction”, as it will allow anyone living in the country to have access to transfusions in emergency situations.

As part of the installation of the blood transfusion station, health technicians received training in the transport, preparation and administration of blood, components and blood derivatives.

According to Conceição Pinto, blood is a good that saves lives, but sometimes problems can occur during the transfusion, requiring both nurses and doctors to be trained to recognize problems and treat patients.

The blood reserve for the transfusion station will be supported by the Blood Bank of the Fogo e Brava Sanitary Region, at Hospital São Francisco de Assis, on the island of Fogo, starting with two units of blood.

The doctor explained that this is enough to stabilize a patient with bleeding or any other situation, and if there is a need to increase it will be increased, also taking into account the validity of the blood that in this case, the reserves they have have a validity of 42 days, thus not running the risk of wasting blood.

These reserves, as Conceição Pinto highlighted, are for emergency situations so that even if the sick have to be transferred to Fogo Island, this transfer is done in safe conditions.

According to this official, this initiative to set up posts nationwide, where there are no Blood Banks, is thinking about situations of acute bleeding, where there is no way to wait, and working with focus so that no one loses their lives on Brava or on any other island nor during transfer due to lack of blood.