Hindustan Times: Mumbai: Thursday,
April 20, 2017.
A Kandivli
blood bank attached to the municipal corporation wasted 856 liters of blood
between 2009 and 2017, reveals data from the Mumbai District AIDS Control
Society (MDACS).
The
organisation that compared its data with the information given by the blood
bank linked to Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivli said that there was a difference
in the figures, suggesting that the hospital tried to fudge figures on blood
waste to avoid punitive action.
MDACS data
till February 2017 shows that the blood bank which serves Shatabdi and Bhagwati
municipal hospitals collected about 19,163units (6,707.05l) of blood during the
period out of which 12% (about 2,300 units) expired. Statistics maintained by
the hospital, however, showed that 22,198 units (7,769l) of blood was collected
out of which 1,336 units (467.6l) got spoilt because of non-usage.
A senior
doctor from the hospital said that MDACS data is reliable because it’s
maintained by independent representatives who prepare monthly reports.
“It’s common
for blood banks to manipulate records, to issue blood free of cost, on
recommendations of local corporators or politicians. Also, showing fewer
expiries protects them from action from higher BMC authorities,” said the
doctor on condition of anonymity. He added that showing documents claiming
lesser wastage of blood also helps the blood bank authorities to escape the ire
of the food and drug administration (FDA). In its annual inspection, which
lasts for a few hours, the FDA largely relies on hospital records and not MDACS
reports because of lack of coordination.
Dr P Jadhav,
chief medical superintendent of municipal periphery hospitals said that the
figures are not worrying. “Wastage of 100 litres of blood a year is not an
unexpected amount. At times blood is also brought for patients from other blood
banks but they expire from not being used within a limited time period,” said
Dr Jadhav.
Right to
Information (RTI) activist Chetan Kothari, who accessed the documents through a
RTI query said that the wastage could be reduced if the blood had been sent for
separation into components. While whole blood has a shelf life of 35 days, its
by-products like freshly frozen plasma (FPP) can be stored for 36 months.
“After
component separation, fractioning of plasma produces important drugs like
albumin, which is essential in the treatment of cancer, liver ailments and
burns,” said Kothari.
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