The director of a newly formed blood service in Chile recently saw how a world-class tissue bank works. Dr Christina Martinez made a special visit to Liverpool to view the groundbreaking tissue bank in Speke and experience the workings of the largest facility of its kind in the world. The visit was part of a joint venture between NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and the Chilean Ministry of Health that aims to set up a tissue bank as part of plans to run the first ever completely unremunerated voluntary blood and tissue service in Chile.
Professor John Kearney, lead scientist and head of tissue services, said;
"We are delighted to host a visit from Dr Martinez to view our facility in Liverpool. The unit is the largest blood service-based tissue bank in the world and incorporates all the state-of-the-art technology needed for this critical service. We hope that Dr Martinez will be able to establish her own tissue facility in Chile and that her visit here will help."
The NHSBT has been working on a joint project with the Chilean Blood Service for about five years, in providing management advice and educational support in setting up a voluntary blood service. It plans to consolidate into three blood centres, in Santiago, Valparaiso and the largest in Concepcion. Blood donation in Chile is only about half of that in England and North Wales, which currently only stands at around 4% of the eligible population.
Many operations in Chile are only performed once relatives and friends have provided the necessary blood donations for the patient. In addition, the fledgling Chilean service has major geographical and logistical problems to overcome. Currently, NHSBT is assessing what further support can be provided.
www.nhsbt.nhs.uk