Beyond blood safety
ST file photo Discarded infected blood units prove screening works, but also expose urgent gaps in disease prevention — surveillance, testing, and infection control — that public health can’t afford to ignore A report published in this paper revealed that 47,375 blood units collected in Sindh during 2025 had to be discarded after screening detected transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs), including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV, syphilis and malaria. The figures showed that 5.7 per cent of screened donations — roughly one in every 20 units — were found unsafe for transfusion. There is reassurance in the fact that screening systems...