The population of Punjab is 120 million and has 36 administrative districts. The urban population is 40% while 60% is rural. The literacy rate is 59.6%.

Government of Pakistan with support from Government of Germany initiated the process of restructuring of the blood transfusion system in the country including in Punjab in 2010. The Punjab Phase I PC-1 was worth 323.75 million (FEC 133.90 million, LC 219.64 million). In the Phase I of the project, two large modern RBCs was developed in Multan and Bahawalpur and 11 existing HBBs in the south Punjab region linked to these RBCs and upgraded and equipped through the German government grant. This infrastructure is now functional and is providing much improved services and safety standards. In the current Phase II of the project an RBC is being developed in Faisalabad and two large public sector blood banks in Lahore (Mayo Hospital and Lahore General Hospital) are being upgraded to RBC level. The Phase II PC-1 is worth 492.836 million (LC 189.571 million, FEC 303.265 million).

The Regional Blood Centre is serving as blood procurement and distribution centre, ensuring quality systems to regulate all activities. Another important role being performed by the Centre is to mobilize voluntary blood donors, collect blood donations and conduct processing, screening, testing, component preparation and storage. The RBC supplies blood and blood components to the linked hospital blood banks which are performing the function of storage, compatibility testing, haemovigilance, and issuance to the wards.

The VNRBD activities in the RBCs are becoming very frequent and gaining momentum. Regular mobile camps are being organized and ‘walk-in donors’ are increasing in numbers. The reliance on family replacement donors is gradually decreasing and the concept of VNRBD is being promoted through blood camps, seminars and other promotional activities.  

Capacity building is a continuous priority of the Programme. Since the operationalization of the RBCs, the new infrastructure has become the hub of training activities. SBTP in collaboration with RBC has organized a number of training activities for all the different levels of workers in the RBCs. The highlight of the workshops has remained the evident enthusiasm of the participants who are always most eager to learn and willing to concentrate for long hours every day in the workshop to enhance their professional skills and knowledge.