A promise for life

The Zhambyl Regional Blood Center today in 2019  is proactively working under the auspices of the “80th Anniversary of the Blood Service of the Zhambyl Region”. Since 2017, Umarov Ghulam Mukhtarovich is the director of the Zhambyl Regional Blood Center.

The history of the Blood Institution began on November 1, 1939, when a blood Transfusion Support Station located in the regional hospital was reorganized into a Regional Blood Transfusion Station; in 1939 there were 81 blood transfusion operations. In 1942, working in wartime conditions, the station made a bank of 165 liters of blood while in 1946 there were 178 liters. In 1959, the volume of blood banking increased up to 520 liters.

In accordance with the National Economic Plan approved for 1965, the Regional Blood Station was reorganized into an independent Regional Blood Transfusion Station in accordance with order of the Zhambul Regional Health Department. As early as in 1969, the banking of native plasma reached up to 79 liters and erythrocyte mass up to 106 liters. In 1971, the banking of dry plasma was started using KS-30 apparatus. During these years, refresher courses for mid-level health care workers on blood transfusions were established at the Regional Blood Transfusion Station. During this time, blood banking and processing increased. In 1994, the Regional Blood Transfusion Station was renamed the Regional Blood Center.

Today, the Zhambyl Regional Blood Center is a bank for new important components of the blood, such as platelets, used in case of their insufficiency in the bone marrow and in case of other oncological diseases related to bone marrow damage, widely used in oncology, hematology, gynecology and surgery. The capacity of the Blood Center is designed to procure blood and its components up to 15.0 thousand liters per year. The organization is engaged in the banking, processing and examination of donated blood and its components and providing them with all treatment-and-prophylactic organizations of the Zhambyl Region, as well as creating a bank of blood components for a man-made or natural emergency. An automated information system of the Blood Service Program “Info Donor” has been introduced in the regional blood center. All stages of the banking and examination are uploaded to the computer, which allows us to track all the process i.e. from the arrival of the donor and blood donating to the issue of banked blood to hospitals. For example, a virus-activated plasma is exposed to ultraviolet radiation, which leads to the loss of the pathogens of viruses and bacteria. After such a procedure, the blood becomes non-infectious. The Erythrocyte Cryopreservation Technique has been introduced and considered a method that allows keeping Red Blood Cells in a frozen state for up to 10 years, which is especially important for the storage of rare blood groups. The Blood Banking Department is equipped with devices that make is possible to produce plasma, platelet, and red blood cells in an automated way. The Leukofiltration Method for the washing of blood cells are used and cryoprecipitate is prepared, which is necessary for transfusion in hematological diseases. The Isoserological Laboratory Department is equipped with Techno apparatus to determine the group belongings and the finotype and to detect the immune antibodies of donor blood using gel maps. In pregnant rhesus negative women, the antibodies and immunoglobulins are determined to detect the hemolytic disease of the newborn in the early stages. The department uses PCR Method to detect infectious agents in the blood at the DNA & RNA Levels for the infections study of Donated Blood after ELISA Testing. The center is staffed with a team of 10 employees. The Team travels every day in a specialized bus to organizations and institutions of the city to collect the donated blood. As a novelty, the Quality Control Department was established to do daily surveys of the products for compliance with quality standards. The Blood Center is equipped with the state of art equipment imported from 19 countries former Soviet Union and other foreign countries (Great Britain, Japan, Germany, Canada, France, Russia, etc.), which meets the quality standards. As a new equipment was purchased, the new methods for banking, examination and storage of blood components have been introduced.