Ahmedabad: Gujarat’s healthcare system is under intense scrutiny after official data revealed that more than 85,000 units of donated blood were discarded across the state due to storage lapses, expiry, logistical failures and inadequate screening.
Despite regular voluntary blood donation camps, public awareness drives and social initiatives, a significant volume of whole blood and packed red blood cells went to waste. These components have a maximum shelf life of 42 days when maintained under strict temperature-controlled conditions. However, many units expired before they could be used because of poor real-time inventory tracking and weak coordination between civil hospitals, private facilities and regional blood centres.
Official figures show that surplus stock often remained idle in one district while patients in neighbouring areas faced shortages. Temperature fluctuations during transit and storage, improper handling that caused clotting, bacterial contamination or bag leakages, and units returned from hospital wards after remaining outside refrigeration for more than 30 minutes further contributed to the discards.
Inadequate pre-donation screening also played a role. In several cases, donors carrying undetected infections such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV, syphilis or malaria were allowed to donate. These units were later identified during laboratory testing and had to be destroyed.
Healthcare activists and civil society organisations have strongly criticised the systemic mismanagement. They have demanded that the Gujarat government and the National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC) immediately introduce a unified real-time digital inventory portal to enable rapid transfer of surplus units between districts. Activists are also calling for stricter pre-donation health checks and the modernisation of cold-chain transportation systems to prevent further wastage.
Medical experts warn that continued losses of this scale deprive patients of life-saving blood during surgeries, accident trauma and critical illnesses, forcing many families to struggle for donors in emergencies. They have urged the authorities to treat the issue as a priority and implement corrective measures without delay.
The revelations have triggered calls for greater transparency and accountability in the state’s blood bank network.
