Centre proposes to rename 'blood banks' as 'blood centres'

The Centre has proposed to rename 'blood banks' as 'blood centres'.

According to the proposed rules approved by the Drugs Technical Advisory Board recently, blood centres' will be authorised premises in an organisation or institution as the case may be, for carrying out all or any of the operations including collection, processing, storage and distribution of blood drawn from donors or received from another licensed blood centre and for preparation, storage and distribution of blood components.

The Centre has fixed 103 riders to streamline the rules for blood donation. The minimum age for a blood donor remains 18 years and the maximum 65 years.

According to the proposed rules, women cannot donate blood for 12 months after delivery, six months after abortion, during breast-feeding and menstruation, a senior Health Ministry official said.

The draft rules prohibit donation of blood by jail inmates or any other confinement and by a person with a history of residence or travel in a geographical area which is endemic for diseases that can be transmitted by blood transfusion and for which screening is not mandated or there are no guidelines in India.

The rules recommend deferring blood donation for six and 12 months after recovery following a minor and major surgery respectively.

Also, one cannot donate blood for three months after recovering from malaria, for six months after recovering from dengue and Chikungunya and four months after recuperating from being infected by Zika virus.