Heart diseases kill 17.9 people each year, while 9.6 million die of cancer, says the World Health Organization (WHO). With these, the surgery and hospitalization rates are rapidly going up. One of the most basic things many such patients need is blood, which, being a highly critical and easily contaminable product, has to be kept in clean and sterile bags. Thus, with the growing incidence of chronic diseases and usage of blood at healthcare centers, the disposable plastic blood bag market is expanding around the world.
Disposable bags are indispensable for two main reasons: to stop blood of different groups mixing with each other, which can be deadly for the recipient, and to minimize the chances of blood-borne diseases, such as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Disposable bags are also used when collecting blood, and with the rate of blood donation going up, the demand for such containers is also surging. For instance, in the U.K., the number of donated units increased from 161,019 in 2015/16 to 159.264 in 2018/19, according to the National Health Service (NHS) data.
Disposable plastic blood donation bags are available in quadruple, triple, double, and single types, among which single bags are most widely procured by healthcare settings. This has been a result of the rising donation rate, increasing number of people suffering from traumatic injuries due to accidents and other reasons, and rising prevalence of blood disorders. As per the WHO, 1.35 million deaths occur due to road accidents every year, and a lot of these happen due to excessive blood loss. This is why an immediate administration of blood is so important in traumatic injuries, blood being the difference between life and death.