E-blood banks

Timely blood transfusion saves precious lives. It is an important part of modern medication. There is a worldwide-recognized system of blood collection, preservation and transfusion. Largely, medical authorities in the country follow the recognized international pattern. However, in our State we have to do much more to make it a foolproof and dependable source of life saving initiative. The basic principle is that blood must reach the needy on time and in full quantity. If it does not reach in time, there is little sense in opening a blood bank.
Ours is a hilly State. The road traffic is prone to motor accidents resulting in tragic deaths and injuries to the passengers. Generally people injured in motor accidents stand in need of blood transfusion owing to loss of blood. Herein rests the importance of functional blood banks. Secondly, for last two decades and half, the State is fighting terrorism. Every other day, we have injured persons either from security forces or from civilians. We are not talking of army personnel because the army has its adequate system of medical assistance when and where needed.
In the course of hearing a RTI case, the Chief Information Commissioner of the State has concluded that the State at present does not have transparency and accountability in the management and distribution of blood and the authentic information regarding availability and transfusion of blood is not forthcoming. Chief Information Commissioner has expressed anguish that the information relating to human safety and preservation of human life was not disclosed on time, which shows the apathy and irresponsibility of the concerned officers towards the issue. We think that for the first time, the issue of transparency in the matter of collection, distribution and transfusion of blood has been taken up in the State. Having noted the serious discrepancies in the system, the Chief Information Commissioner has scripted some guidelines for the medical functionaries at different levels with focus on coordinating the blood bank data in the State through e-blood banking system so that latest information on various aspects is available to the needy. He has suggested 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. While considering the matter of how the patients would know beforehand whether the blood of particular group is or is not available in the hospital, a mechanism of e-banking needs to be evolved. We have seen that in emergency cases patients are driven from one hospital to another hospital for blood transfusion because the patient does not know which hospital has the blood of his group in store. In this connection, the example of Odisha State was also considered and the opinion was that this being a sound system could be introduced in our State also. The system provides information about location of particular blood group available in a district and the quantity of stock.
We appreciate the initiative taken by the Chief Information Commissioner in this connection. He has made a sound suggestion that a panel of doctors be constituted to give their opinion how collection, preservation, distribution of blood in hospitals is streamlined. 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. Hospitals must ensure that this kind of waste is avoided.

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