Pune : According to officials, blood donations during summer reportedly decline, and the State Blood Transfusion Council witnesses a shortage every year during this time of the year as people are away on vacations. In such a scenario ten blood storage centres (BSCs) in Pune district are shut as a result of the non-renewal of licences. This has forced the district blood bank at Aundh Hospital to cut down the blood collection through camps and walk-in donors.
In 2015, the Maharashtra government started blood storage centres in various districts of the state as patients from rural parts of villages were forced to go to cities for medical services due to the non-availability of blood. Pune district has 11 blood storage centres out of which ten centres have been shut down.
Dr Nagnath Yempalay, district civil surgeon, said we will issue a reminder letter to all the hospitals in which the BSCs are located.
Earlier too in January, we had issued a letter asking them to complete the renewal process. “We will ask them to make the BSCs operational on priority and submit us a report. We are also getting inquiries about the same from the state government.
At many places where the BSCs are located development work is ongoing,” he said.
According to the officials, it’s been over a year now that none of the 10 BSCs has applied for the renewal of licenses to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The reason is the staff at the BSC is unable to use the online process to apply for renewals, claiming it to be complex, said officials of such blood storage centres.
Out of these ten BSCs, four centres are located in sub-district hospitals of Bhor, Daund, Manchar and Indapur. Five centres are located in the rural hospitals of Ghodegaon, Junnar, Saswad, Yavat and Shikrapur and one centre at Baramati Women’s Hospital.
Dr Nisha Teli, blood transfusion officer at the Aundh blood bank, said blood to these BSCs is supplied by us. “The same blood is used while handling medical emergencies, surgery or trauma patients. However, all these BSCs are closed as the license approval is pending and eventually, the demand for blood from them has stopped,” she said.
Dr Teli said this has forced us to reduce the blood collection and even reduce the number of blood donation camps. “Currently, we need around 150 bags of blood every month and we don’t do excess collection to avoid wastage of blood.
Every centre comes up with a reason behind the pending renewal is they are unable to apply online for the renewals,” she said.
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