Separation units are a bloody mess

Even as the government has invested more than Rs 16 lakh to provide expensive equipment to Dr RN Cooper and Rajawadi hospitals’ blood banks for establishing blood component separation units, it is yet to start functioning.

To provide the infrastructure to separate life saving components from whole blood to more hospitals, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced in 2010 that a blood component separation unit would be started in Rajawadi hospital. The executive committee sanctioned the proposal to construct another one at Cooper Hospital on September 17, 2014. However, as per the documents accessed by The Asian Age, both the units are still pending.

For the functioning of the two units, Mumbai Districts AIDS Control Society has provided the required equipment. “We have provided three equipment each to both the hospitals that worth more than Rs 16 lakh,” said an officer from MDACS.

As per the documents, plasma thaws bath (Rs 80,000), refrigerated water bath (Rs 1 lakh) and sterile connecting device ('6.35 lakh) have been provided each to both the hospitals.

When this newspaper contacted Dr Pramod Nagarkar, resident medical officer at Cooper Hospital, he said that due to technical problems the move has been delayed and is still under process. “But now we starting an unit at Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care Hospital from January next year that is under the jurisdiction of the Cooper Hospital,” he added.

According to experts, the component separation helps in maximum use of every unit of blood. “In most of the cases, the donated blood is used in transfusion. But if the blood is separated its various constitutes like plasma, cryoprecipitates, and platelet, it can help more than one person,” said Dr Narendra Naidu, medical director, Red Cross Society, Mumbai.