Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Network of blood storage centres planned

By Ramya Kannan

Chennai Sept. 30. As yet another World Blood Day dawns, Tamil Nadu is trying to finalise its policy focussing on establishing a network of centres to facilitate easy availability of blood even in remote areas. The State wants to promote these centres to ensure availability of blood and blood products in all areas, within half-hour reach. Blood storage centres were conceived by the Centre for `providing blood whenever and wherever required.' This exercise will be replicated by the State in its policy. While decentralising supply, the Government also hopes to ensure maximum safety of blood and blood products, say Health department officials.

However, these centres will be mainly storage units. They will not be licensed to collect or test blood from voluntary donors, according to government officials. The storage centres will be licensed to procure fully screened and tested blood and preserve it in cold storage.At present, the health department officials are mapping the geographical areas which need the storage centres including remote, tribal and hilly locations, where often it takes at least a couple of hours to procure blood in an emergency. The decision to allow licensing of the storage centres was taken following complaints from doctors in rural areas of difficulty in procuring blood in emergencies. The problem began after the practice of Unbanked Directed Blood Transfusion, in which the doctor himself used to collect blood from voluntary donors, do tests and transfuse it immediately to patients, was outlawed after April 5, 1999.

"If the State is concerned at the high maternal mortality rate, availability of blood in the remotest corner of every district, to prevent post-partum haemorrhage will have to be ensured. We continue to lose a number of women who bleed to death because we cannot procure blood on time," according to Gio Gnanadurai, a practitioner at Sivakasi, who has been part of the national campaign.

The storage centres will supplement the storage task, aiding the existing 76 blood banks in the public health sector and 126 in the NGO/private/voluntary sector in the State. Approximately over four lakh units are collected annually, which quantity, according to officials, is sufficient for the requirements of the State. "The problem is not lack of blood but the lack of a network that will take it to remote areas and ensure that it is made available all over the State," an official said.

At present, geo-information systems are being used to map the locations, where blood banks should be set up, according to sources. ``We want to match the storage centres to demand in rural areas," the official said. The centres would have to satisfy criteria on infrastructure and personnel, before licence was granted. The centres would have to register themselves with the Tamil Nadu Blood Transfusion Council, which would also monitor their functioning.

Normally, blood can be stored under proper conditions for 35 days, while with special procedures, it can be preserved for 42 days. The centres will have to ensure that blood is not stored beyond the stipulated period. "We have a large number of blood banks in the State — that means unnecessary duplication of equipment. The solution is rather in the storage centres. Every district headquarters can have one full-fledged blood bank and several storage centres depending on the need," according to P. Srinivasan of the Jeevan Blood Bank.

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