Daily
Excelsior: Jammu: Saturday, 21 November 2015.
Obse-rving
that the present system of blood collection and transfusion in Jammu and
Kashmir is not as effective and timely to save human life as is necessary, the
Chief Information Commissioner of the State, G R Sufi has directed the
Government to devise a mechanism of interconnecting all the blood banks of the
State into a single network so that people don’t run from pillar to post to get
blood in case of emergencies, which otherwise is a regular phenomenon in this
State.
The
Commission has also directed that an expert panel of concerned medical
authorities be constituted which shall in detail examine the issue and put up
the system in place keeping in view the advantages of e-blood banks within a
period of one month.
These
significant directions have been passed in an RTI application filed on February
20, 2014 by one Deepak Sharma, who was denied information relating to this
vital aspect by the then Public Information Officer (PIO) of the Health and
Medical Education Department during the tenure of previous regime. The basis of
this RTI application was information earlier provided by the then Government
whereby it was mentioned that a total of 1938 units of blood was
wasted/discarded in the Government Medical College Jammu and SMGS Hospital in
three years.
During the
course of hearing before the State Information Commission, the Chief
Information Comm-issioner expressed anguish that the information which relates
to human safety and preservation of human life has not been disclosed on time,
which shows the apathy and least concern of the concerned responsible officers
towards the issue.
The
Commission was informed by the complainant about the problems in blood
collection management and distribution in absence of transparency. It was also
stated before the Commission that many a times it has been seen that the
patients in critical conditions after travelling a long distance on reaching
referred hospitals are informed that particular blood group is not available in
that hospital and hence causes grave risk to the lives of the patients.
The necessity
of framing e-blood banking system to ensure effective management of collection
and distribution of blood and its components was highlighted on the ground that
Jammu and Kashmir regularly deals with militancy, cross border firing related
incidents and because of its demography and hilly roads, it is more prone to
road accidents and natural disasters. It was also submitted before the
Commission that at present there is no transparency and accountability in the
management and distribution of blood and the authentic information regarding availability
and transfusion of blood is not forthcoming.
Director
Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and Assistant Professor, Blood
Transfusion Services, GMC Jammu in their detailed written presentation on the
blood bank management information system informed the Commission that e-blood
bank, if started, would aim for acquisition, validation, storage and
circulation of various live data and information will be available
electronically regarding blood donations and transfusion services safety, accessibility
and availability. “This is an effective management tool for both individual
blood banks and multiple blood banks under a single organization/authority by
interconnecting all into single network and managing through a centralized
database”, they further said.
The Chief
Information Commissioner, while going through the e-blood bank facility of
Odisha observed that it provides information about location of particular blood
group available district wise and the quantity of stock. Even Director SKIMS
submitted that Odisha model is running successfully and there cannot be much
financial implications if implemented in Jammu and Kashmir. He, however, also
referred certain difficulties which may crop in implementing the system.
After
detailed exercise, the Chief Information Commis-sioner has observed, “it is an
admitted fact that the present system of blood collection and transfusion is
not as effective and timely to save human life as is necessary”, adding “there
are instances which show that because of several reasons even the donation of
blood with good intentions does not yield the intended results because of
wastage in the process of preservation and collecting the blood and non timely
blood transfusion”.
“There are
number of cases where the accident hit people succumb to injuries while being
shifted to hospitals which contain the needed blood group. Cases have been
reported where in the immediate vicinity the hospitals, dispensaries and health
centres refuse to give the blood transfusion to a dying patient and the
authorities were also unaware which hospital or health centre in immediate
vicinity or other places do contain such required blood group”, the Chief
Information Commissioner said.
The
Commission has requested the Secretary Health of the State to give an immediate
thought to the recommendations of experts like Director SKIMS and to establish
a blood bank on the same pattern as has been done in Odisha. “An expert panel
of concerned medical authorities be constituted which will in detail examine
the issue and put up the system in place keeping in view the advantages of such
e-blood banks and also avoid any of the disadvantages”, the CIC said.
The
Commission, while exercising its powers under Section 16(8)(a) directed the
public authority to devise a system which would provide access to information
seekers for knowing where the required blood group will be available in case of
emergency or otherwise. “Section 16 of the J&K State RTI Act, 2009 makes it
mandatory for the public authorities to adhere to the recommendations and
directions given by the J&K State Information Commission to make available
the information in a particular form as and when required”, the CIC said and
sought compliance report from the Commissioner /Secretary to Government, Health
& Medical Education Department within a month from the receipt of this
order.
Simultaneously,
the Commission directed the Commissioner/ Secretary to direct all the Health
Units, Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Primary Health Centres to implement Section
4 of the J&K State RTI Act, 2009 particularly giving the information about
the blood group available therein. “In case, there is repeated non-compliance
with the provisions of law, the Commission would treat the same as deemed
refusal to disseminate the information and initiate penalty proceedings”, the
CIC made it clear.
The
Commission has also directed the then PIO Government Medical College, Jammu to
explain why penalty proceedings under Section 17 of the J&K RTI Act, 2009
may not be initiated against him for not providing the information within the
stipulated time.
Pointing
towards the deliberations of All India Convention of RTI Inform-ation Commissions
of the country, the CIC said, “the Prime Minister has rightly observed that RTI
cannot be used only for replying the queries but the real purpose will be
served if the disclosure of information leads to improvement in the
governance”, adding “the authorities while dealing with this application should
have appreciated that the RTI queries raised by the complainant pertained to
the important issues regarding the collection, identification of the required
blood group and the wastage caused in the process of blood donation”.
“Preservation
of human life and better quality of life is centre to the goal of good
governance which can be achieved by bringing transparency and accountability in
the working of public authorities”, the Commission has concluded.
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