An effective healthcare system cannot be ensured without total blood security for patients, especially when there is growing need for blood.
A centralised blood transfusion centre could be a step to create total blood security in which patients reaching for emergency treatment need not run around to meet the immediate blood requirement, says N. Vijayakumar, medical officer, Regional Blood Transfusion Centre, Aluva.
However, the policy makers are yet to give the idea a thought, said Dr. Vijayakumar.
The government can run a pilot project and depending on its success, the coverage can be spread to a larger area, he said.
Dr. Vijayakumar envisages three centralised systems in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode to ensure total blood security across the State.
Aluva blood bank
The central zone located under the Aluva Blood Bank can ensure supply to Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha and Thrissur besides meeting the needs of Ernakulam, he said.
A hospital needs to go in for a blood bank only if it requires more than 2,000 units a year.
Only large hospitals need blood banks. For storage, smaller hospitals need only to ensure a 100 square feet area with a refrigerator and a technician.
It is the lack of assurance in blood availability that forces many hospitals set up blood banks. Actually, maintenance of a blood bank by meeting all the norms is actually a major process that many hospitals find cumbersome, he added.
Even though voluntary blood donations have increased, gap between the demand and supply stands at 50 per cent.
The State meets only 32 per cent of the demand through voluntary donations. It is this gap that is utilised by many professional donors who masquerade as replacement donors, he added.
World Health Organisation estimates that a country should have an equivalent of 4-5 per cent of the population donating once a year to meet the blood needs of the country effectively.
However, India is far behind in meeting the requirement of about 40 million units with just one-tenth of it available.
