As part of the Union government’s plan to set up a metro blood bank to improve blood transfusion services in New Delhi, the Delhi Cabinet on Friday approved a proposal to this effect for providing a 900 square metre plot to Dwarka Hospital in southwest Delhi.
The Central government will provide complete financial assistance to create infrastructure for the blood bank. This blood bank will have a capacity to process more than 100,000 units of blood annually. The blood ba-nk would cater to five states — HP, Uttrakhand, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi.
A highly-placed sour-ce said that the nine-storey building will be funded by National AIDS Control Orgnaisa-tion (NACO) of the Central government. At present, Dwarka Hospi-tal is spread on a 15-acre plot with nine floors and two basements. “It’s a Central government funded project to improve the blood tra-nsfusion services in the country. There are also plans to set up metro blood bank in Mumbai for which resources have to be identified to help the plan materialise,” a senior official told this newspaper.
These blood bank will have state of the art facilities with blood component separation unit, in addition to its ability to process more than 100,000 units of blood annually. The designing consultant for the site has been identified to initiate work. Access to safe blood to all the needy is the primary responsibility of NACO. At present, it is supported by a network of 1,103 blood banks, including 132 blood component separation units and 10 model blood banks. NACO supported installation of blood component separation units and also funded modernisation of all major blood banks.
