Hospitals must arrange for blood, not ask patients' kin: SBTC

Hospitals can't ask patients' relatives to arrange for blood and must do so themselves, the state blood transfusion council (SBTC) has said.

The council issued the direction as state hospitals, which have been facing acute shortage of blood, send patients' relatives running here and there to arrange for it. If any hospital is found floating rules, the relatives can approach the SBTC, said authorities.

SBTC director Dr Girish Chaudhary said, "Relatives can help hospital arrange for blood for their patient, but they can't be solely held responsible for it. According to the National Blood Policy, hospitals have to arrange for blood."

"Relatives can get in touch with us with their grievances. We will definitely look into them," he added.

He admitted that presently there is a shortage of certain blood groups in the state because of summer vacations. "Most of the donors are youths, college students. Generally, during this period, we face shortage in blood. We have asked blood banks to organise donation camps to cope with the shortage," added Chaudhary.

On an average daily, Mumbai alone requires more than 700 units of 350ml whole blood, platelets or plasma. The demand goes up during the rains because of monsoon-related ailments. According to sources, in the coming days, 18-20 blood donation camps have been organised in Mumbai by the Indian Medical Association. One of them is on the eve of doctors' day (July).

Welcoming SBTC's move, Dr Tarang Gianchandani, CEO, Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre, and treasury to Association of Hospitals in Mumbai, said, "I completely agree with the SBTC. Patients' relatives should not be asked to arrange for blood. It's the hospital's responsibility. In our hospital, our blood bank is in touch with others in case of shortage of any particular blood group. If a relative is asked by the doctor to arrange for blood, s/he should get in touch with the senior management of the hospital."

Explaining the reason behind the shortage, Dr Ravindra Chavan, blood transfusion officer, Sadguru charitable blood bank in Airoli, said this is a yearly problem, when students and donors from community-based organisations are out on holidays.

"Though the situation is not very bad, we have to strive harder to arrange for blood by holding camps," said Chavan.

In a year, around 2.7 lakh people donate blood in Mumbai, of which up to 40,000 are from colleges. Another 40,000-odd donors are from community organisations, while others are from religious and corporate organisations.

In numbers
73: State-run blood banks
12: Blood banks run by the Red Cross in Maharashtra
17: Blood banks run by private institutes in Maharashtra
203: Blood banks run by charitable institutes in Maharashtra