Mumbai: Maharashtra’s ‘blood on call’ scheme is set to expand significantly in Mumbai, with five new blood storage centres. Under the scheme, registered hospitals and nursing homes contact a central facility with their requirements, and motorcycle couriers speedily manoeuvre their way through traffic to deliver the blood.
Jeevan Amrut Seva was launched in 2014, with 33 districts state-wide participating, and two couriers in each district operating from the district hospital, which acts as the storage point; it has delivered 33,464 blood units to date.
Given Mumbai’s population and traffic density, there were supposed to be nine centres in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR as per the original plan. Currently, though, there are three: Railway Hospital, Byculla, since the scheme’s inception, and two more added in 2016, BPT Hospital in Vadala, and Municipal hospital in Vasai. And there is one main storage point, the JJ Mahanagar blood bank.
According to Arun Thorat of the State Blood Transfusion Council, a fourth centre, at the BMC hospital in Malwani, will open next month,” with four more — Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivali, Bhabha Hospital in Kurla, ESI Hospital in Mulund, and VN Desai in Santacruz — are in the pipeline. As per the SBTC’s agreements with the four hospitals, each ones gives it space and electricity, and gets 30 free units of blood every month. Each storage centre requires a freezer, equipment for cross-matching, a technician, and a doctor to certify the report.
“There was a problem with the tendering process as the equipment required in the storage centre was quoted at a very high price,” says Dr. Satish Pawar, head of the Directorate of Health Services. “We are in process of getting things in order now.”
“It is a very effective idea,” Mr. Thorat says. “The blood gets delivered right at the doorstep of the hospital where the patient in need is admitted. Also, since bikers deliver it, they are able to reach must faster.”
