The Hindu : Front Page : Blood storage centres to reduce maternal mortality

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 13, 2007
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Blood storage centres to reduce maternal mortality

Ramya Kannan

State plans to set them up in block-level primary health centres

CHENNAI: In an effort to reduce maternal mortality (currently 90 deaths per 1,00,000 live births) in Tamil Nadu, the State government has launched a project to set up blood storage centres in all block-level Primary Health Centres (PHCs).

“Our aim is to reduce deaths due to post-partum (after delivery) bleeding, by providing emergency obstetric care to the mother at the block level,” Apoorva, Commissioner, Maternal and Child Health, said. The first centre would be set up in Vellore within a week and at the end of three years, 385 block-level PHCs would be equipped with life-saving blood storage centres. It was estimated that the move would reduce maternal mortality by a further 30 per cent.

In the first phase – the next three months – 22 centres would be set up at a cost of Rs. 5 lakh a unit, according to P. Padmanabhan, Director of Public Health. Each unit would comprise a special blood bank refrigerator and a generator to keep it running round-the-clock. It would hold some units of blood, typed and checked for safety, for use in emergency. A total of 75 centres would be set up in the second phase, and eventually, in three years, 385 centres would be put in place. In Tamil Nadu, about 1.8 lakh deliveries take place at the PHCs and health sub centres.

“We were losing many mothers due to post-partum haemorrhage (PPH) because there are delays in transporting her to a bigger hospital. If blood units are available at the PHC itself, transfusion can be done immediately as a life- saving measure,” Ms. Apoorva said. In case of PPH, doctors said, the mother should receive a blood transfusion in two hours or she would die. Transportation might not be the only problem in a rural setting – the patient’s family might take time to mobilise money or reach an institution without a blood bank. Even if the patient reached a referral centre, there would be further delay before transfusion could be started.

S. Jayam, former director of the Institute of Child Health and fellow of the National Neonatology Forum, said “The campaign has been going on for a long while; it is also recommended by the WHO.”

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