THE NATIONAL Blood Transfusion Service (Blood Bank) is still awaiting a promised supply of reagents to test for Hepatitis B.
Dr. Rochelle Roman, acting head of the Blood Bank, said the supply had not arrive on Wednesday as promised.
Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Dr. Roman said the Bank was still testing for other illnesses but had not received the reagents for Hepatitis B up to 3:00 p.m. the day before.
EMERGENCY SUPPLY
The Ministry of Health said Monday that it had ordered an emergency supply of reagents, which were expected in the island by Wednesday. The supply should have been cleared yesterday.
The Bank said on Monday that the lack of the reagents had forced it to cut back on the amount of blood it processes by 50 per cent and to postpone dispatching its mobile blood collection units.
In the meantime, the Blood Bank says it is still accepting walk-in donors at its centres islandwide and testing for what it can.
