The South African National Blood Services (SANBS) has launched a smart fridge aimed at reducing turnaround times for patients to receive blood in rural areas where there is a high mortality of mothers during childbirth.
The fridge, fondly referred to as Bophelo, is currently being piloted at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital. Operating like a vending machine, healthcare workers use a unique code sent to them by SANBS to access cross-matched blood.
“Bophelo will improve efficiency, supply reliability and coverage at hospitals that do not have blood banks on site by monitoring stocks remotely and availing blood timeously,” said Ravi Reddy, SANBS CEO.
He said Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital was elected for the pilot because of its high demand for blood and proximity to the SANBS head office which allows for the remotely controlled automated fridge to be monitored as a trial for teething problems.
“The smart fridge is an important technological innovation under SANBS’ iHealth strategy and contributes towards improving accessibility to healthcare for all and the creation of a sustainable future for the organisation,” said Reddy.
Following the success of the pilot, 10 more smart fridges of its kind will be rolled out to other hospitals, to be determined according to each hospital’s needs and where it is located.
“SANBS takes pride in being an integral player in the country’s healthcare system as we strive to transform, innovate and respond with agility to meet the health needs of all patients in need of blood products and services at a world-class level of cost and quality,” Reddy concluded.
The smart fridges will help the SANBS to:
– Decrease the risk of transfusing emergency un-crossmatched units to patients with clinically significant red cell antibodies in remote hospitals;
– gain faster clinical access to compatible units in remote hospitals, increasing patient safety;
– increase traceability, ensuring the right patient receives the right product;
– achieve proper cold chain management, preventing the transfusion of incorrectly stored units;
– prevent the transfusion of expired units;
– ensure blood product quality and integrity through proper handling;
– decrease blood wastage;
– decrease emergency blood usage, especially group O Negative in remote hospitals (type specific blood will be available for electronic crossmatching); and
– decrease the risk of transfusing Rh incompatibility emergency units to Rh negative patients.
