According to a press release from Botswana Doctor’s Union (BDU), on March 15, 2025, at 4pm a young woman tragically passed away at Princess Marina Hospital (PMH) due to haemorrhagic shock resulting from rupture ectopic pregnancy. The union further explained that the sad reality was that there was no blood available for transfusion at the time. “This is not an isolated incident as many more patients across the country are suffering due to anaemia, and countless others continue to lose their lives because of severe blood shortage affecting the nation. BDU has noted with grave concern that the past four weeks, there has been severe shortage of blood and blood products in public hospitals,” it stated.
It further explained that the ongoing crisis led to numerous deaths and severe complications for patients in desperate need of blood transfusions. BDU further expressed disappointment over the poor administrative oversight at MoH regarding that critical issue. It also stated that while many Batswana generously donate blood, thousands of blood units remained untested and many discarded due to inadequate cold storage facilities. The BDU also pointed out that blood shortage that recurred sadly claimed the lives of many people each year. It highlighted that the root cause of that blood shortage was resulted by mismanagement and poor decision making within MoH. Furthermore, the press release noted that there was unavailability of test regiments. “Although the minimum required tests for blood-borne viruses such as HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and C are conducted, there are significant gaps in testing. We are unable to procure enough test kits to properly screen the estimated 45 000 blood units expected to be processed annually by the National Blood Transfusion Services (NBTS),” it said. Despite the country’s financial and economic challenges, BDU added that MoH resorted to crisis management practices such as outsourcing blood transfusion to private hospitals and sending samples to South Africa for testing, which were unsustainable and inadequate solutions. BDU also stated that year after year, doctors were left to manage that crisis with no long-term solutions in sight.
