Safe Transfusion Overseas

Travelling with a supply of one's own cross matched blood and intravenous fluids is an option for heads of state, says Richard Dawood MD in Conde Nast Traveler, July 1998.

Most travellers must be content with emergency, medical evacuation and travel health insurance. But while these provide some peace of mind, they are only partial solutions. Travel insurance plans are generally designed to resolve simple issues of cost and reimbursement rather than the immediate, practical problem of trying to track down emergency services that may not exist and medical evacuation is only feasible for patients with stable conditions. Moreover, transfusion facilities meet internationally recognised standards in fewer than 25 countries around the world, the vast majority of them in North America and Western Europe. The very concept of donating blood is essentially a western one, and local superstitions conspire to keep supplies scarce. Foreign visitors who need blood may impact on usually limited local resources.

The Blood Care Foundation's global network of blood banks can supply travellers with screened blood and sterile transfusion equipment within 12 hours in almost any part of the world. The blood is dispatched via courier, who is usually a paramedic, a transfusion specialist or an emergency physician. That person can administer transfusions and remain with victims until they are in a stable condition or have been medically evacuated. While blood is on its way, sterile fluids and equipment can be provided even more quickly from an expanding network of supply points.

Individual coverage costs $15 per month of travel. It can be purchased in the same way as travel insurance. For more information, contact the foundation by fax in the United Kingdom (++44-1293-425-488).

Reproduced from and with acknowledgement to Traveling Healthy (Volume 11, no 5) September/October 1998