Two years after approving opening of a blood storage centre at BMC-run Bhabha Hospital in Kurla, the project is yet to see the light of day owing to lack of laboratory technicians to run it.
Amidst much fanfare, the State Blood Transfusion Centre (SBTC), in 2014, declared it would inaugurate nine blood storage centres across the city. Bhabha Hospital in Kurla being one of the hospitals to house such a centre.
However, a Right to Information (RTI) query has revealed that despite receiving the Food and Drugs Authority’s (FDA) nod in 2014 and getting all required equipment from SBTC, the centre is not still operational.
“These storage units were to provide immediate blood supply within a radius of 50 km each. As Kurla doesn’t have a single blood bank, around 2,000 patients could have benefitted from it,” said the RTI applicant.
Dr Sandip Salokhe, Medical Director at Sir J.J. Mahanagar Raktapedhi, blamed lack of refrigerators for the delay but the RTI query revealed that SBTC has already provided Bio-Rad Incubator, Bio-Rad Centrifuge, Computer, Refrigerator and Cupboard. “If there is no refrigerator, then why did they provide in the RTI that there is a refrigerator Aren’t they aware of the situation ” questioned the applicant.
Despite repeated attempts to contact Dr Girish Chaudhari, Director, SBTC, he remained unavailable for comment.
“Storage centres are vital for blood transfusion services, as merely availability of blood is not enough and blood should reach patients at the right time, which is ensured by the storage centre, which cuts short the distance between blood bank and hospitals,” said the RTI applicant.
While a blood bank can collect blood, test it and issue it to the patient, a storage centre has to take readymade — tested blood from the linked mother blood bank. It cannot collect blood. The mother blood bank for these storage centres is also J.J. Mahanagar Blood Bank. The 100 square feet space allocated to the storage centre is lying useless at the hospital. “At a time when hospitals are suffering from space crunch, 100 square feet is not less. This could have benefited many patients,” the RTI applicant said.
