HCMC Hospital of Hematology and Blood Transfusion announced they will be applying Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) to screen donors for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.
NAT is a technique used to detect early onset of a virus or bacterium in the blood. The NAT procedure is expected to ensure a safe supply of blood for transfusions. The hospital is the first in the country to apply the technique.
The center supplies blood for 100 private and public hospitals in HCMC. It collects 220,000 units from donors per year, accounting for 25 percent of the total donated blood in the country. The number of donors has risen 98 percent in the last year.
