Today we are going to Croatia, at the Croatian Institute for Transfusion Medicine (HZTM) to talk to Mr. Marko Radovcic, Production Manager at the Institute.

The Croatian Institute for Transfusion Medicine is a national institute located in Zagreb. The institute is the largest blood bank in the country and handles around 100,000 donations per year.

1. Could you explain what your activities consist of?

My name is Marko Radovcic and I’m the Component Production Manager working for the Croatian Institute for Transfusion Medicine. We are a blood bank, so we collect, produce, store, and then distribute blood and several blood components. This is our core business. We also do the testing of the donations and for organ donors. We cover half of the needs of Croatia. About 40% of the plasma that we process is for clinical use and 60% goes to pharmaceutical companies for fractionation. We process around 400 blood donations every day.

2. Why is there a need for blood storage in your business?

We use the overnight hold manufacturing process. We cool the collected blood from donation within 4h to 22°C and then we keep it overnight as whole blood at 22°C. We start the processing the next morning. We will then freeze the plasma within the 24h of collection. We have 3 shock freezers and each of them will do 3 to 4 cycles per day.

3. Which products did you buy from B Medical Systems? For which purpose?

We bought the contact shock freezer, the CSF61 model for plasma freezing. We already have 2 contact shock freezers from another manufacturer and as we are expanding, we needed an additional unit.

4. What are the features that you like the most? Could you please talk about the performances of the devices?

I appreciate the speed of the operations with the CSF61 and the adequate low temperature during the freezing process. The other devices that we are using freeze the plasma bags at -75°C and the plastic is much more brittle than at -35°C/-45°C, which is the freezing temperature of the CSF61.

Also, the CSF61 uses less energy which makes the unit more energy efficient than the other ones we have and it’s three times faster. Usually, in 20-25 min, we freeze the contents of the 2 available plates. The other devices that we have freeze the plasma only from one side, not from two sides.

Our damaged bags ratio on plasma bags is below 1% and we have noticed that we have much less plasma damaged by the CSF61 than with the other equipment. We have 3 plasma shock freezers, and we use them equally.

5. How are you using the B Medical Systems product and how does it benefit your institution?

We use the device every day to freeze the plasma. The benefits to our institution are the speed of the operation with the device, the reduction of the energy expenditure and the lower rate of destruction of the plasma bag. The only pain point would be ergonomics.

6. Have you found in B Medical Systems a trustworthy partner?

Yes, for sure.

7. How did you learn about B Medical Systems?

From your local distributor. We were preparing a tender for the contact shock freezer, and your local distributor came to introduce the machine. The service has been quite good.

8. How long have you been a B Medical Systems customer?

We have been B Medical Systems’ customer for two years. Since the end of 2021.

9. Are you satisfied with the equipment?

We are very happy. At one point in the future, we would like to have two CSFs, maybe one more. The performance of the machines is great, and we are very satisfied.

10. Would you recommend B Medical Systems?

Yes of course, I would.

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