An RTI query filed by an independent pathologist has revealed how blood donation camps that were done for a hospital allegedly flouted essential safety norms in order to collect maximum blood in a matter of hours.
The query revealed how the short-staffed organisers exerted pressure on the blood banks to storm through the essential questionnaire in a short period, thereby jeopardising the quality of the blood collected during the camp.
The pathologist who did not wish to be named had asked for detailed information of the camps held for KEM Blood Bank. The hospital offered details of 19 mega blood banks organised by private parties in the period of 2013-2014. While the standard procedure for blood collection takes about 15-16 minutes to collect blood from a single donor, the data revealed the camps collected a whopping 700% more blood in as much period. The blood transfusion department, KEM Hospital, did not respond to calls or messages for comment on the issue.
The standard operating procedure (SOP) of blood collection is issued by State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) and followed strictly to ensure that the blood collected is as per the standards. The SOP includes registration, history-taking, basic examination and a final confirmation by a phlebotomist (one trained to draw blood from a patient for clinical or medical testing).
“To collect blood from 100 to 120 donors in five hours, the camp would need at least one Medical Officer, two nurses or phlebotomists, two medico-social workers, three blood bank technicians, two attendants and a well-equipped vehicle with blood storage facilities. But the data revealed how the organisers have been working severely understaffed and collecting 7-8 times more blood than they could do,” said the pathologist.
Out of the 19 blood donation camps for which details were provided, only three were attended by Blood Transfusion Officers. While camps organised by Lalbaug Utsav Mandal, Ajinkya Mitra Mandal and Adhyam Vidya Sanstha among others in December 2013 had functioned without technicians, they were also attended by doctors not attached with KEM Blood Bank.
