Hemotech Cell Saver To Go Mobile

Hemotech, distributor of the US-based Haemonetics Corporation in India, plans to offer mobile service of its Cell Saver, a product which serves the function of the surgical blood salvage through the rapid and safe collection of a patient's own blood before, during and/or after surgery for reinfusion to the same patient. The US company is world leader in blood processing technology.

The need for blood transfusion during surgery generally arises when approximately two or more units of blood are lost, as is common with open heart surgery, trauma treatment, transplant surgery, and with many orthopedic and vascular procedures.

According to Hemotech, there is an increasing recognition within the medical community that blood transfusions should be autologous wherever possible to avoid the risks associated with homologous (donated) blood transfusions.

 

Sanjay Ganapathi, advisor to Hemotech, said: "Surgical blood salvage, also known as autologous blood transfusion, reduces or eliminates a patient's dependence on blood donated from others."

Hemotech will offer this facility through a mobile service in a bid to make Cell Saver affordable for hospitals and patients.

Whenever a patient wants Cell Saver service, it will reach there and charge on per case basis from the hospital. "We will start the mobile service in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata in a month", Sanjay said.

"The company plans to kick off its mobile service as most of the hospitals hesitate to buy this costly equipment since they can't put it to the maximum use as the patient has to incur an additional expenditure of more than Rs 6,000 on consumables, apart from costs charged by hospital for using the equipment," he said. Hemotech has so far supplied 10 such systems to various major hospitals in the country.