The Value of a Pint: Understanding the Cost and Worth of Blood Donation

The cost of a pint of blood varies depending on the blood type, Rhesus factor, Blood supply, and other unique circumstances.

There are typically four different blood group types: A, B, AB, and O. O-positive people make up around 85% of Nigerians, making them more readily accessible and less expensive to purchase than other people.

Additionally, the O blood type is the most common donor, making it simpler to get, and the majority of the blood in blood banks is O Rhesus positive.

O-positive blood costs around 10,000 Naira for every pint. Blood that is O negative is rare and difficult to get. The majority of laboratories offer a pint of O-negative blood for between 15,000 and 18,000 Naira.

Due to the low demand, a positive pint of blood is sold for #10,000 naira. People seldom ever seek blood Opositive since Apositive individuals may get it. A negative blood test costs 13,000 Naira to purchase.

Blood that is B positive or blood type AB is seldom needed. On occasion, under exceptional circumstances, they are sold for #8,000 naira.

The doctor may sometimes seek specific conditions under unique circumstances for a group of patients.

For instance, sickle cell anaemia patients who are experiencing a crisis may be asked to purchase a pint of O-positive genotype AA blood for transfusion in order to prevent or relieve the sickle cell crisis.

A genotype A positive pint of blood is hard to get, and it's also challenging to screen. A pint of beer costs roughly 17,000 Naira. It costs more if the sickler is O negative.

Your doctor could sometimes ask for fresh whole blood (blood that has just been given), fresh frozen plasma, or cryoprecipitate. Rest certain that they cost a lot more money.

about the subject of safety? Because the laboratories will test the blood for HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, and other infectious illnesses before selling it, buying blood from "outside" or private labs is safe.

Additionally, the blood will be rescreened when you bring the pints to the hospital where your wife will have surgery, and you will be instructed to return it if it passes the screening procedures.

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We don't trade in blood, the hospitals

Only two blood group antigens the ABO (which has A, B, O, and AB categories) and RhD (which has negative and positive categories) groups are taken into account when determining whether a transfusion recipient will receive compatible blood despite the fact that humans have 35 major groups or families of blood group antigens, as well as additional minor groups.

The National Hospital Abuja's Servicom unit spokesman, who only went by the name Jacob, said unequivocally that while the hospital does not sell blood to patients, he is aware that certain patients engage in private agreements with paid donors.

"It's not feasible for us to sell blood. Anyone who has experienced having blood sold to them at a hospital should contact us. I am curious.

"There are certain delicate blood types, like O positive, that we may not receive in time. Patients would then need to find donors and pay them.

Patients would then invite donors and pay for their travel and lodging separately. We're not a part of it. He told The ICIR, "We merely ask them to pay for screening the blood.

Before undergoing any treatment, patients often sign a paper authorising the donation of any leftover blood to anybody in the hospital who needs it, according to Jacob.

Emmanuel Enejoh, the head of the laboratory at Nisa Premier Hospital Abuja, emphasised that it is a requirement of global health standards for patients to provide blood before childbirth or surgery.

Patients also agree that the blood donation is non-refundable in this case and that it may be utilised in emergency scenarios if it is not transfused to the patient.

"Our hospital has an emergency wing. There is a sickle-cell centre here. If we still have blood that is inside the expiry date of 27 to 30 days, we don't ask these folks to go looking for blood when these crises or emergencies occur.

"Please tell us how to refund screening. So I will now refund the screening charge to the patient if I purchase an Enzyme-Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay (ELISA) kit to test blood for someone, he asked.

Although the hospital's first line of practice is to employ related donors, Enejoh continued to explain to our reporter that although occasionally it seeks paid donors for patients who do not have, it only charges a screening fee later.

"The remunerated donor enters the picture if you don't have your donor. Some of them will admit they're not even interested in getting to know these folks.

Due to the degree of poverty in this region of the globe, people have not yet realised that you should come and give blood for free.

"Once we find a donor for a patient, we give them the freedom to negotiate a price. We don't charge them anything more for screening, he said.

In contrast, Ayobami Bakare, the operations manager of Haima Health Initiative, confirmed during an interview with our reporter that Nigeria does indeed have a functioning black market for blood that charges very high prices.

"At Haima Health Initiative, we organise blood drives for the National Blood Service Commission, examine the donated blood, and distribute it for N6,000.

There are several private blood banks, particularly in Lagos and Abuja, where individuals pay donors to acquire blood, which is where the inconsistencies originate from.

In Nigeria, there is also a thriving and expensive underground market for blood. Depending on where you go, a negative blood test might cost between N25,000 and N30,000 (Abuja or Lagos).

As a result, they just extort patients due to the deficiency. Nigeria requires between 1.8 million and 2 million pints of blood every year, according to Bakare.

Whole blood fractionation remains a significant difficulty, according to the Commission

Coordination, control, and assurance of the delivery of safe, high-quality blood transfusion services in Nigeria are the responsibilities of the National Blood Service Commission.

Nigeria developed a national blood transfusion policy in December 2006 with the publication of a set of recommendations.

Nigeria developed a national blood transfusion policy in December 2006 with the publication of a set of recommendations.

The policy directive offers five main structures the National Blood Service Commission (previously known as the national blood transfusion service), the zonal blood service centres, the state and local government areas blood service centres, the armed forces blood service, as well as private and other non-governmental health establishments to guarantee nationwide coverage, down to local government councils.

The Commission has shown that since the technology for ¹blood fractionation is costly and not widely accessible, the majority of hospitals in Nigeria transfuse entire blood to patients even when just particular blood components are needed.

Uneku Offor, a technical assistant to the director general of the NBSC, revealed this in a conversation with our reporter as a significant obstacle the commission is attempting to overcome soon.

Offor revealed that only 8% of Nigerians donate blood voluntarily, with relatives providing the majority of these donations. As part of the Commission's 10-year strategic plan, which was unveiled last year, the initiative has been launched with the goal of increasing voluntary blood donation from 25, 000 per year to one million.

One person is only permitted to give blood three times each year, and Benjamin Aghoro, who as of May 2022 has donated 106 pints of blood, is Nigeria's top volunteer blood donor.

"There should be a reserve so that we can quickly mobilise those blood units to the location where they may require them when such events, mass casualties, such as the Owo church assault, are met. That is the goal of the programme to provide one million safe blood units.

"Once we have a sizable volume of donated blood, we will begin diversifying into components like red blood concentrates and plasma via the one million safe blood units' effort.

"Most hospitals, particularly in Nigeria, simply provide whole blood, whether the individual needs it or not," Offor said. "The equipment needed for this fractionation is not generally accessible and is highly costly."

She said that some of the NBSC's 11 state centres currently have component platelet machines that allow them to separate out only the platelet concentrate and provide it to people when they need it.

Six zonal centres and 11 state centres comprise 17 centres around the nation for the NBCS.

Conclusion

"No blood should now be provided to anybody at a cost more than N8,000, including the screening itself; that is, the blood donated, the screening and all other costs associated with obtaining a pint of blood are N8,000."

Additional resources and citations

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