Nokblod certifies Walking Blood Bank on Svalbard (2023)
Minister of health, Ingvild Kjerkol was present when Nokblod carried out the final certifying test of the Walking Blood Bank at Longyearbyen Hospital on Svalbard.
The Norwegian Centre for Blood Prepardness is a national center that works to improve the blood prepardness in Norway. The centre is located at Haukeland University Hospital at Helse Bergen, but has representatives from all the regional healthcare trusts of Norway and from the Norwegian Armed Forces.
Nokblod is the projectmanager for Project Blodprepardness, Finnmark pilot.
The project is owned and run by Helse Nord Healthcare Trust, by assignment from the Ministry of Health and Care Services (HOD). The goal of the project is to ensure blood prepardness for the entire Norwegian population, including on Svalbard and in municipalities situated far from the closest hospital.
Minister of health, Ingvild Kjerkol (second from the right) was present when Nokblod carried out the final certifying test of the walking blood bank at Longyearbyen Hospital on Svalbard.
Minister of health present during excercise at Longyearbyen Hospital
Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol and the secretary general of the Ministry of Health and Care Services, Cathrine M. Lofthus, was present during the final certifying exercise at Longyearbyen Hospital, after which the Walking Blood Bank is certified as operational. This is the third WBB that is established in Norway, the two other being Berlevåg and Alta municipalities, and further two more are planned in Finnmark.
A bloodbank where the patients are
An early balanced blood transfusion is a life saving intervention for patients with severe hemorrhage. But on Svalbard and in several remote municipalities it can take a long time to transport a patient to hospital, or the transport might get delayed due to severe weather conditions. Therefore we wish to establish systems that enable healthcare proffesionals to start blood transfusions where the patients are.
In a walking bloodbank fresh wholeblood is collected from pre-approved blood donors, then the wholeblood gets transfused directly to the patient. Nokblod is responsible for training the local staff in collecting and transfusing the blood, and are assisting in establishing a volunteer emergency blood donor corps.
This article was first published 15/5/2023, and was republished 29/05/2026 when Nokblod updated it's websites.