A Holistic Innovation Strategy for the Development of the Blood Supply Chain Management in Egypt
Dr. Mahmoud Elsayed Moustafa Hassanin
Citation :Dr. Mahmoud Elsayed Moustafa Hassanin, A Holistic Innovation Strategy for the Development of the Blood Supply Chain Management in Egypt International Journal of Managerial Studies and Research 2017,5(6) : 14-23
Human blood is a perishable and rare product - therefore it is an expensive and scarce resource. Transfusion of human blood can be life saving. Therefore, blood availability and safety present a serious requirement and a great challenge in many societies for many reasons. In Egypt, the national blood system is not serving the health system well. Many blood centers are working as isolated islands. The lack of blood availability statistics at the national level does not support the process of integrating both planning and distributing the available amount of blood in different locations effectively and efficiently. This serious deficiency of the current distribution system represents the main cause for the frequent unavailability of blood when it is imminently needed in several high risk and dangerous situations, specifically in periods of crisis. Although, there some preliminary efforts were done in creating the national blood-centers network, the actual outcomes were not as expected. In a knowledge era, establishing a holistic strategy to create, manage and optimize the blood ecosystem is an essential and innovative solution for this chronic problem. A mix of qualitative and quantitative studies have been utilized (face-to-face interviews) to have an in-depth understanding of the ecosystem, procedures and managerial approach and quantitative study (a questionnaire) to investigate the problems' roots. The proposed Integrated Blood Supply Chain Management in Egypt - called (IBSCMSE)- encompasses four main components (top management support, decision support system, accumulating resources and building a social awareness of the problem). This comprehensive approach expected to provide several practical benefits for the national and regional blood system such as: managing, analyzing, forecasting and supporting critical decisions in health care sector. This inclusive approach connects all blood centers in an integrated network, to provide adequate information and to simultaneously work as a dual large blood system that can help nationally and as a regional blood system.