Question: My hospital’s capacity has increased to 400 beds. We currently stock one unit of O positive and one unit of O negative emergency blood but it is no longer enough. We are needing to increase our emergency blood stocks. How do I go about requesting this?

The process to request an increase to the emergency blood stock requirements for a specific facility is as follows:

The facility should contact Nawaal Gamieldien, Emergency Blood Bank Coordinator, and email their motivation to formally request an increase in the stock requirements.

  • She will then compile information on the data usage at the facility and based on the results, the Western Cape Blood Service (WCBS) will increase the emergency blood stock.
  • WCBS will discuss the outcome with the facility – we try to increase O Rh positive stock over O Rh negative stock. The increased stock amount is usually effective immediately, once consensus is reached.

It is important for the facility to weigh up the cost of the emergency blood holding fee for additional stock with the cost of transporting blood to and from the blood bank as needed.

2022 state sector emergency blood holding fees (excludes the cost of the actual unit):

  • Red cell concentrate – R 431.47 including VAT per unit
  • Whole blood – R 431.47 including VAT per unit
  • Pre-storage leucocyte poor red cell concentrate – R 649.64 including VAT per unit

2022 private sector emergency blood holding fee:

  • Red cell concentrate – R 585.73 including VAT per unit
  • Whole blood – R 585.73 including VAT per unit
  • Pre-storage leucocyte poor red cell concentrate – R 876.15 including VAT per unit

For more information, contact Nawaal Gamieldien, Emergency Blood Bank Coordinator (telephone: 021 507 6476, cellphone: 083 564 9297, email: Nawaal@wcbs.org.za and fax2email: 086 645 3095).