Three blood banks will be built in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Sharjah at a cost of Dh48 million as part of the Ministry of Health's plan to make the UAE an international centre for blood transfusion and research services, according to Minister of Health Hamad Abdul Rahman Al Madfa. He was opening a four-day symposium for directors of Arab blood banks.

Al Madfa said the ministry goes to great lengths to secure sufficient blood supplies and ensure that the blood is safe. The standard of UAE blood transfusion services is high and the ministry recently earned an ISO 9002 certificate of quality.

The ministry plans to build two new blood banks: a central facility in Abu Dhabi and another in Al Ain by the end of 2003. A third centre for blood transfusion and research, to be built in Sharjah, will be one of the biggest in the Middle East. It will deal with all aspects of blood transfusion, hereditary diseases and medical research. It is expected to open late next year.

Al Madfa noted the sharp rise in the units of blood available nationwide. They reached 30,000 units and 15,000 units of main blood components at the end of 1999. This is three times the number available in previous years.

He added that the UAE had achieved self-sufficiency in blood and components in 1983 when it halted imports. Chief of the Technical Secretariat of the Arab Health Ministers Council Dr Hussein Hamouda said, "This meeting will enable experts to exchange useful information that will further secure safe transfusion of blood to patients and prevent blood transmitted infections, a priority issue on the agenda of the Arab Health Ministers' Council."

He urged delegates to set up a programme to protect Arab countries from the dangers of mishandling blood and its components. UAE blood banks and medical laboratories Director Amin Al Amiri noted that diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis B and malaria constitute major health problems in certain parts of the world.

"Such serious illnesses, however, do not get the same media coverage on TV as natural disasters do." He said 70,000 to 100,000 people died of natural disasters last year, but 13 million lost their lives due to blood-transmitted diseases.

Al Amiri said the UAE would urge Arab health ministries to revive the Arab Association for Blood Transfusion Services, which stopped functioning more than 10 years ago.