Implementation of blood safety legislation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan

Pakistan’s blood transfusion system is regulated by federal and provincial legislation, adopted since 1997. The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is one of the autonomously administered territories of Pakistan. The AJK’s blood safety act came out in 2003, to regulate the blood transfusion services but remained ineffective for the next decade due to no implementation. During the period 2014-2017, the AJK government sought technical assistance from the Islamabad Blood Transfusion Authority and initiated the implementation of blood safety legislation in the state of AJK through the AJK Blood Transfusion Authority. The AJK BTA identified and inspected 64 blood banks with a total annual blood collection of 30,833. The majority (75%) of the blood banks were in NGO/private sector while the remaining 25% belonged to the public sector. Only six blood banks fulfilled the minimum criteria of licensing set by the AJK BTA. As a result of this ground-breaking work, the AJK became the second region of the country (after Islamabad Capital Territory) to have completed a mapping and inspection exercise in the entire State. This will go a long way in the consolidation of blood transfusion services in AJK.