Private Hospitals Given Three Months To Sign Blood Supply MoU

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- The Health Ministry will stop supplying blood to private hospitals unless they sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the ministry in the next three months.
The MoU is to prevent private hospitals from reselling blood at a higher price than what they had paid the government for the supply, currently fixed at RM20 per 450ml bag.
"Nobody should make profit from selling blood. The blood was donated for humanitarian purpose," said minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek after witnessing the signing of a MoU between Pusat Rawatan Islam and the National Blood Bank for the supply of blood.
He said private hospitals now resold blood for as high as RM300 per bag.
"I have never heard about any of them selling it at RM20," he added.
The handling charge to the government is about RM80 per bag of blood, and at least 20 per cent of the Blood Bank's supply go to private hospitals, mainly in the Klang Valley.
Last year, 46,000 blood bags, mostly donated by the public, were supplied to private medical institutions.
To plug the profiteering, the ministry set up a special committee last year to study the issue and it formulated a MoU but the response by private hospitals was lukewarm.
"Only 10 have signed the MoU, and there are 104 private hospitals in the Klang Valley alone. A lot did not sign because we did not guarantee that the blood we supplied was safe from diseases like Hepatitis B and C and syphilis.
"But we include an indemnity clause in the MoU that makes us liable if the blood is contaminated," said Dr Chua, adding that only 1.3 per cent of the 447,690 units of blood collected last year were contaminated.
Blood stock in the National Blood Bank undergoes stringent checks for HIV virus, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and Syphilis.
Dr Chua said the ministry would revise the RM20 fee, which was based on the government's Fee Schedule dating from 1953.