TOI : Commercial blood donor racket busted in Govandi : Apr 29, 2005
Commercial blood donor racket busted in Govandi
Even If One Contaminated Bottle Enters The System There Is Cause For Worry
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: It is an alarming diagnosis: contaminated blood could be circulating in the citys healthcare system through a little-known blood bank located on Govandi Station Road.
This came to light when Ambaji Blood Bank & Blood Components was raided by a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) team led by commissioner A Ramakrishnan himself on Wednesday night. Its a C-grade blood bank and we have already cancelled its licence, FDA commissioner A Ramakrishnan told TOI.
The FDA and Trombay police teams that conducted the raid believe that people most of them repeat donorswere being offered Rs 150 to donate more than twice the prescribed volume of blood and, worse, none of the mandatory screening tests were being conducted.
These men were not even asked the basic screening questions of whether they have fever or taken medication in the past 24 hours, said Parmesh Kadam of the Jan Jagriti Samajik Sanstha, the voluntary organisation that had alerted the FDA about the dubious blood bank.
Screening tests to establish anaemia and the dreaded blood-related contaminants viruses like HIV and Hepatitis C too were not being done, he alleged. The total screening operation can cost Rs 800 per person, and we are sure this bank didnt take such precautions, he added. Corroborating his point, sub-inspector Pradeep Wani of the Trombay police said, We have arrested eight professional donor and two technicians of the blood bank on the charge of releasing blood without proper checks. The police said they would conduct blood tests to establish if the donors had any infectious diseases.
The Raid
The operation began at 8 pm and ended at 4 am, with the FDA sealing the premises. A fortnight ago, the Jan Jagruti Samajik Sanstha noticed a motorbike rider regularly picking up certain individuals from Kamraj Nagar, Ramanbhai Colony, Ghatkopar East. We asked around and found out that he paid Rs 150 to people who donated blood to Ambaji Blood Bank, said Kadam.
The NGO then kept a watch on the blood bank and noticed that a technician took charge after 5 pm and a steady stream of people made a beeline for the bank. Most of these people seemed poor and in illhealth, he said.
The NGO helped a donor who was on the verge of fainting after walking out of the blood bank and got out the whole story. The government prescribes that blood should be donated only once in three months, but here were people who had donated twice a week if not more, said Vilas Rupwate from the NGO. We found one person who claimed he had donated blood six times in as many days. Most of those arrested had blue-black marks on their forearm that indicated repeated jabs, they said. The blood bank obviously had a list of regulars who would be picked or invited on certain days, they added.
Most of these guys were underweight even though the National Blood Policy clearly states that donors should be over 48 kg.
The owners of the blood bank, Dr Sharad and wife Bhavna Khara, are out of the country, said the police. Their second blood bank, Ambica, in Ghatkopar W too has been sealed by the FDA.
Blood Banks In Mumbai
The city has around 62 blood banks22 belonging to public healthcare institutions, 12 to private trusts and trust-run hospitals and the remaining are private stand-alone operators. While the first two categories have been authorised to organise voluntary blood donation camps, the standalone camp cannot. It is a wonder that people set up such blood banks at all. The investment for a blood bank is huge, running into tens of lakhs, and a stand-alone bank can, at best, get 2,000 donors a year. Even if they charge users a whopping Rs 3,000 per bottle of blood, it just doesnt make economic sense, says a public health expert.
Vinay Shetty, who helps organise blood donation drives for recognised and government blood banks, says it is a disaster even if one bottle of contaminated blood makes it to the healthcare system.
It is to avoid such disasters that the State Blood Transfusion Council and the FDA had issued a notice to these stand-alone banks last year to either align themselves with reputed hospitals or shut shop. We have given these people about a year to do so, and we will soon start cracking the whip, said a government official who doesnt want to be identified.
FDA commissioner Ramakrishnan promises more corrective action in the next 15 days. But the main problem, he said, is the fact that licences for blood banks are given out by the central government. Why should the Centre then not monitor such units? he asked.