Odisha issues guideline for blood transfusion

The Odisha government today issued advisory on how to undertake blood transfusion process and decided to recruit 60 laboratory technicians to meet the shortage of manpower in blood banks across the state.
"We will soon appoint nearly 60 laboratory technicians under the National Health Mission (NHM) and about 50-60 data entry operators to meet the staff shortage problem," said health and family welfare secretary Aarti Ahuja.
Stating that the state government has issued directives to blood bank officers and those who were in-charge to strictly adhere to the guidelines, Ahuja said those found violating the guideline would be punished.
She said this after a review meeting on proper management and development of the three medical colleges and 53 blood banks in the state.

While Rs 16 crore would be spent for augmenting infrastructure in blood banks in the state, an amount of Rs five crore would be spent for buying modern equipment, an official said.
Ahuja said the department has issued an advisory to all three government-run medical colleges and 53 blood banks to adopt proper procedure and maintain transparency while testing blood and its transfusion.

She said a committee has been set up at the district level to monitor and check implementation of the advisory.
"We have issued an advisory which has guidelines on how to follow standard operating procedures as per protocol provided in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. We have made it clear that so far blood safety is concerned, we have zero tolerance. Whosoever is found to be negligent, action will be taken against him/her," she said.

The development came in the backdrop of the final blood report from a Mumbai-based laboratory confirming one Tazeen Parween, a three-year-old girl of Balasore suffering from thalassemia, was transfused blood infected with Hepatitis C virus at Balasore district headquarters hospital recently.