'Blood Transfusion Emergency' Transfusion with Blood Products Made from COVID-19 Confirmed Patients' Blood... 'No Notification'

42 Confirmed Cases Among Blood Donors... 99 Units Created

Blood Donation [Image Source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-ju] Forty-five blood component products made from the blood of confirmed COVID-19 patients were shipped to hospitals and actually transfused, but health authorities have been criticized for not even identifying the patients who received the transfusions.

On the 15th, Kim Sung-joo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, disclosed the results of an analysis titled "List of COVID-19 Confirmed Donors" during the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee's audit of the Korean Red Cross.

According to the report, as of August, 42 of all blood donors this year were confirmed to have COVID-19.

A total of 99 blood component products, including red blood cells, platelets, and frozen plasma made from the blood of confirmed patients, were produced, of which 45 were shipped to hospitals and transfused to patients.

However, because health authorities did not notify the recipients, patients remain unaware that the blood components they received were made from the blood of COVID-19 confirmed patients.

According to Representative Kim, in February, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and the Korean Red Cross held a "Regular Blood Safety Meeting" and decided to classify blood from COVID-19 confirmed patients as "unqualified blood" and to discard it. This decision was made to prevent side effects caused by the uncertainties of the novel infectious disease.

Currently, Article 8, Paragraph 2 of the Blood Management Act stipulates that "when unqualified blood is found, it shall be discarded according to the standards prescribed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare." Furthermore, Paragraph 5 states that "if unqualified blood has been transfused, the recipient must be notified."

However, at the 2nd Blood Management Committee meeting held in March, a decision contrary to the previous directive was made. The relevant authorities stated that "there have been no cases of respiratory viruses like COVID-19 being transmitted through blood," and decided not to establish separate administrative measures such as follow-up investigations for transfusion recipients.

As a result, transfusion recipients were not notified that they had received blood from COVID-19 infected donors.

Regarding this, Representative Kim criticized, "While the authorities worry about the uncertainties of COVID-19, they have not prepared administrative measures for transfusion recipients and have failed to properly manage blood donations," adding, "The blood management system must be improved considering the uncertainties of novel infectious diseases."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.