The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Blood will now cost more

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Saturday, Jun 28, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Blood will now cost more

T. Lalith Singh

Only those admitted in private, corporate hospitals have to pay

Blood banks give units free of cost to patients admitted in government hospitals
Rs. 500 was being collected from patients in private and corporate hospitals

HYDERABAD: Patients admitted in private and corporate hospitals and seeking blood for transfusion from government-supported facilities will soon have to pay more.

Presently, the government blood banks and similar Trust facilities supported by it are charging Rs.500 per unit of blood from patients admitted to privately run health institutions.

The same is expected to go up by a couple of hundred rupees in coming days, according to the blood banks.

The rules in vogue have these blood banks issuing units free of cost to patients admitted in government hospitals while charging corporate hospital patients, informs Dr. Dinesh Singh, incharge of IPM Blood Bank. “Nothing is charged from patients who are admitted in government health facility and in need of transfusion,” he says.

The blood banks of voluntary bodies and Trusts that are supported by the government in form of supply of reagents, test kits and other facilities raise the elixir of life through donation camps and are expected to provide 30 per cent of such collection free of cost to the needy poor. From the rest available, if the corporate hospitals seek the same, then it is offered at Rs.500 per unit.

This being so, the private and corporate hospitals make the blood available for transfusion at Rs.1,000 or more. Reasoning out, they say this is because they do not receive any support from the government and to meet the high costs involved in collecting, processing, screening and storing the blood.

Even if the raw material, that is blood, is free in the form of replacement, there are other costs entailed, says a doctor with a corporate hospital blood bank.

Points out Dr. Shyamala, incharge of the Apollo Hospital blood bank, “We do not get any assistance or subsidies from the government while there are costs incurred not only in infrastructure, automated equipments and material for receiving and maintaining the blood but also to take care of the salaries of the manpower involved”.

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Andhra Pradesh