Evaluation of the progress of a decade-long haemovigilance programme in India

Background and objectives: Implementation of national haemovigilance programmes has significantly improved donor and recipient safety. Recently, India completed a decade of successful implementation of its national haemovigilance programmes. The national programme is still enrolling more blood centres. This study aimed to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of Haemovigilance Programme of India (HvPI), thereby providing valuable insights for future initiatives.

Materials and methods: The National Coordinating Centre (NCC) conducted a multi-centre, cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey among the reporting blood centres (January to April 2022). The survey consisted of three sections with a total of 27 questions focusing on the demographics of the participant blood centre as well as the impact on the recipient and donor haemovigilance. The survey was sent to 733 blood centres regularly reporting to the donor and recipient HvPI through Donor and Hemovigil Software.

Results: Total 296 responses were received (response rate of 40.4%) with maximum participation of private non-teaching hospital-based blood centres (33.8%). After their involvement in recipient HvPI, 85.7% of the respondents reported changes in their blood centre's work procedures, with the maximum improvement seen in the documentation of transfusion reactions (92.7%). Out of the 278 respondents who participated in donor HvPI, 89.9% (250) found that their blood centre's policies or work process changed as a result of their involvement in the programme.

Conclusion: In conclusion, our haemovigilance programme facilitates national collaboration for learning and sharing experiences, leading to improved policies and practices in reducing adverse reactions for both recipients and donors.