The blood bank at Lady Goschen Hospital which usually procures packed red cells necessary for women with anaemia during pregnancy from the nearby Government Wenlock or other private blood banks will shortly have the facility for component separation from the whole blood, turning it into a full-fledged blood bank.
According to superintendent of Lady Goschen M.M. Shakuntala, the State government has cleared signing of an MoU between the hospital and the Indian Red Cross which runs the blood bank on the hospital premises. The Drug Control Department’s permission for launching the component separation facility is awaited.
“We are hoping to get a clearance in about a week,” Dr. Shakuntala said on Saturday on the sidelines of tour of a mobile blood donation unit to the city.
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Equipment necessary for separation of components namely packed red cells, platelet concentrate IP and fresh frozen plasma IP have already been installed. Dr. Shakuntala said the Indian Red Cross has been asked to provide free of cost the whole blood and also the components to those admitted to the hospital.
It was in May 2013, the Indian Red Cross moved its blood bank from Athena Hospital to the Lady Goschen Hospital.
On an average nearly 200 women from different parts of the district and also from neighbouring Kerala get admitted to the hospital every day.
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“In the absence of blood components, we have been injecting 100 ml of whole blood per day for anaemic patients,” Dr. Shakuntala said.