Institute of Blood Transfusion Service Lahore, Punjab

The National Blood Transfusion Program was started in the year, 1942 at the Provincial Headquarter Lahore. The organization based at Lahore retained its original structure and was subsequently placed under the administrative control of West Pakistan Blood Transfusion Officer in 1948, who was responsible for streamlining the setup for the benefit of patients requiring Blood Transfusion. Subsequentl

y the West Pakistan Directorate of Blood Banks was established in 1964 which was headed by the Director After that Dr. Ali Muhammad Khan was appointed as first Director and served till 1969. He was followed by Dr. Jahan Ara Qazalbash. n 1971 upon dissolution of one unit, this became the Directorate of Blood Transfusion Service Punjab Lahore with three Divisions and three Districts under its supervision. Dr. Faiz Ali Shah was appointed as Director, Blood Transfusion Service Punjab, Lahore followed by Prof. Dr. Sakhia Sakha Ullah. The Directorate of Blood Transfusion Service was established in 1971 upon dissolution on 1 unit. Prof. Dr. Sakhia Sakha Ullah after her retirement in 1993 was followed by Prof. Dr. Aquila T. Bhutta, who headed the Institute till 1999. Dr. Mahfooz-ur-Rahman was temporarily given the charge of the office till February 2000, when Prof. Dr. Yasmin Lodhi, was appointed as Director, Blood Transfusion Service Punjab, Lahore which she remained till her retirement in February, 2008.Then after that another person Dr. Hafiz Abdul Qayyum was given temporary charge for 07 months after that another person which Prof. Dr. Mahfooz-ur-Rahman was appointed as Director, Blood Transfusion Service Punjab, Lahore in September, 2008. Further on Dr.Saleem Jaffar was given the charge of office. For a long time this Institute was based at 56-Lawrence Road, situated in an off lane of Lawrence Road, Lahore. It was a fairly large building spread over 10 Kanal areas containing fair bit of covered area along with open lawns, but the building was a rented premises. In October 1996, the Institute was shifted to another small multi storied rented building located at Iqbal Chamber, 5 Temple Road near Regal Cinema. This building was very small and congested for such an Institute; More over its location was also unsuitable for the purpose. Particularly for future expansion and function and responsibilities of the Institution as a supervising and teaching Institute for the Province. In January 2000, the present building located inside Punjab Institute for Mental Health was allotted to IBTS and the Institute is housed in this building since then. Appointment of first transfusion service in 1938. In 1965, West Pakistan Directorate of Blood banks was established. In 1971, this became the directorate of Blood Transfusion Service Punjab with three Divisions and four Districts. In 1981 Upgraded to a Institute and is known as The Institute Of Blood Transfusion Service, Punjab. Dr. Shahid Mahmood, M.D Hematology, took the Charge of the post of Director, Institute Of Blood Transfusion Service Punjab Lahore w.e.f. 01-01-2021(Fore Noon). Since then, he has sincerely devoted his energies with a blend of highly professional attributes related to Hematology & Blood Transfusion Sciences for the present & future nourishment of the IBTS and establishing of RBC'S (Regional Blood Centers Lahore General Hospital, Mayo Hospital Lahore and Faisalabad). Dr. Shahid Mahmood, being M.D Hematology, dynamically introduced the Gel
Card Compatibility method at this Institute with collaboration of different manufacturing / distributing Firms having that equipment. From the first day, the vision of Dr. Shahid Mahmood was to shift the Blood Screening from ICT Method to CLIA to get 99.9 % accurate results. For this purpose, he called several meetings with the Firms/Companies, known for having the latest equipment related to Blood Screening i.e. ELISA/ CLIA. Their representatives were invited and detailed discussion was conducted to have a glimpse of the situation and to define the steps which were necessary for introducing the CLIA Screening methods in the Blood Units in Teaching Hospitals of Punjab. Dr. Shahid Mahmood is a man who discourages the „One Man Show‟ and strongly
believes in Team Work.