Korean Red Cross

Director of Blood Safety Bureau at the Korean Red Cross Blood Services Headquarters participated in the 3rd APEC Blood Supply Chain Policy Forum on 8th and 9th December. This forum was held at the NIHBT(National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion) organized by APEC.

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The GMP(Good Manufacturing Practice) status in the Asia-Pacific region and its economic effects were discussed, and participants also joined a group discussion regarding GMP policy, process, and organization.

Malaysia joined the PIC/S(Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme) and has been using its guidelines for inspection; GMP Guide for Blood Establishment(PE 005-3, 2007) and Good Distribution Practise(1st Edition, 2011). Taiwan joined the PIC/S and has been referring to Recommendation on Quality System Requirements for Pharmaceutical Inspectorates(PI 002-3, 2007) for inspection.

The blood services in Luxembourg has gained economic effects since it introduced quality management system in 1994 and was qualified with ISO 9001 in 1999. The rate of outdated RBC reduced from 16% in 1991 to 8% in 2006, and the rate of non-confirmity(deviation, compliant, adverse events/reactions, recall, CAPA) dropped from 8% in 1991 to 2% in 1999. This was equivalent to 750,000 EUR annually.

In the group discussion, participants agreed that for the efficient operation of GMP, the close relationships between the Ministry of Health and blood establishments and government subsidies are necessary. Also, the independence of quality manager should be assured.

APEC is currently running Partnership Training Network to achieve 'APEC 2020 Blood Supply Chain Roadmap'. Peru hosted a training program for quality management system last June, and a two-day GMP workshop was held in Vietnam just before the forum.

The Korean Red Cross Blood Services joined the first forum in 2014 and gave a presentation about quality management system in Korea at the second forum in 2015.

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