Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Institute for Transfusion Medicine of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the oldest and only independent institution dedicated to transfusion medicine in the country. It also serves as the scientific and educational base of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sarajevo. The Institute is a healthcare institution responsible for carrying out transfusion-related activities across the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Institute’s core activities include organizing blood collection in collaboration with humanitarian organizations, clubs, and associations of voluntary blood donors; storing and distributing blood and blood components; supplying healthcare and other institutions with medicines derived from blood; and conducting diagnostic tests and transfusion treatments.

In addition to these core responsibilities, the Institute also:

• Develops and updates standards and protocols for blood collection, processing of blood components, laboratory and transfusion testing, and transfusion indications;
• Coordinates and oversees professional work in transfusion medicine across institutes and hospitals;
• Conducts quality control of reagents and preparations used in transfusion medicine.
• In December 2011, the project to establish a quality management system according to the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard began.

THE DEPARTMENT FOR BLOOD-BORNE DISEASE TESTING is conducting an international external quality assessment (IEQAS), in cooperation with the Croatian Institute for Transfusion Medicine and the European Society for External Quality Assessment (ESfEQA) Heidelberg/Germany.

The Tissue Typing Center is a member of the external control of antigen typing by molecular methods of class I and II at low/medium resolution for Central and Eastern Europe of the Institute for Immunology and Experimental Therapy (Polish Society for Immunogenetics), Wrocław, then the detection and identification of anti-HLA antibodies Eurotransplant Reference Laboratory External Proficiency Testing for Antibody Screening, Leiden and the detection of antigen HLA B*27 University hospital “ALEXANDROVSKA” Department of Clinical Immunology and Stem Cell Bank, Sofia, Bulgaria Balkan EPT.