Welcome to the SANBTC 2021 Congress

Dear South African National Blood Transfusion Congress Stakeholder,

RE: 36th South African National Blood Transfusion Congress (SANBTC)

As you know, the 36th South African National Blood Transfusion Congress (SANBTC) is currently scheduled for 23rd to 26th August 2021.

Although it was our hope that the COVID pandemic situation would have improved to allow this Congress to go ahead as scheduled, the Directors of the South African Society for Blood Transfusion (who also comprise the Organising Committee), as well as the PCO, Scatterlings, have taken the difficult decision to postpone the Congress to a later date.

Our primary reasons are:

• South Africa will probably be in, or coming out of the 3rd wave of COVID infections at that time. There is considerable uncertainty regarding the Regulations which will be in force at that time – but clearly these may preclude gatherings and travel.
• While many delegates, exhibitors and speakers will have been vaccinated, even those who have will not have 100% protection, and of course those who have not been vaccinated will be at risk.
• The COVID situation and travel restrictions in other countries will influence the physical attendance of International invited speakers, overseas principals of exhibitors and sponsors, and delegates from African and other countries.
• We considered converting the Congress to a fully virtual meeting, but this would be a markedly substandard alternative. We have always prized the on-site presence and availability of invited experts, as well as the developmental and team-building opportunities our Congress provides for our staff which would be significantly diluted by an on-line offering. In addition, for many of our staff, the Congress provides the opportunity for their first public research presentation.
• The Trade and Sponsors are key partners in the success of the SANBTC, and it is our belief that an in-person Trade Exhibition offers the optimum return on investment, which can not be effectively replicated in an on-line format.
• Our final consideration is that the Congress is a non-essential event, and a postponement will not impair the longer term objectives of the Congress, and the Society.

We appreciate that this postponement may cause inconvenience, for which we apologise – however, this difficult decision has been made in the interests of the safety of all stakeholders, as well as hosting a successful Congress, we hope early in 2022.

We are exploring our options regarding new dates, although the venue (Durban ICC) and broad structure of the Congress schedule are expected to remain the same.

Warm regards

Wendy Sykes                                                  Marion Vermeulen
Chair –                                                             President – SASBT
SANBTC Organising Committee