The Hindu : New Delhi News : State-of-the-art blood banks soon: Ramadoss

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Thursday, Nov 29, 2007
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New Delhi

State-of-the-art blood banks soon: Ramadoss

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The central government will set up state-of-the-art blood banks in 600 districts across India and a model blood bank in all States within the next 2-3 years besides the National Blood Authority as a regulatory body, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Anbumani Ramadoss has said.

Addressing the National Conference on “How Accessible and Safe is ‘Safe’ Blood?” organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry to commemorate World AIDS day on December 1 , he said centres of excellence would be set up at the metros at a cost of Rs.25 crore each to support the regional requirements of testing and blood storage. The Centre will also establish a plasma fractioning unit with a capacity of 1,50,000 litres of blood every year. A National Blood Authority will be set up to promote and regulate donations, transfusions and policies regarding blood, he said.

While noting that India has reduced HIV/AIDS due to blood transfusion to 2% and the government wanted to bring it down to 0.5%, the Minister stressed on the collective effort for the ‘safe’ blood initiative and complimented the CII’s effort on taking up ‘corporate social responsibility’ as a key issue of concern.

On the role of the government, Dr. Ramadoss said that the National Rural Health Mission with a budget of Rs.15,800 crore was the largest initiative by the Indian government on health sector but it needed the support of private companies to implement the mission. National AIDS Control Organisation, which is supporting public blood banks, has commenced a nationwide movement to promote donation of ‘safe’ blood, he said.

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