Mumbai: 26 blood units seized from hospitals in five months

After mid-day's report in April last year about how private hospitals buy blood at nominal rates from the government-run Rajawadi Hospital, only to provide it to patients at 20 times the price, Mumbai Districts AIDS Control Society (MDACS) officials seized 26 units of blood over five months from private hospitals that were into this practice.

Also read: Here's how Mumbai's private hospitals are getting rich on 'blood money'

Rajawadi Hospital gave blood with the intention of not letting the blood expire due to prolonged storage. Pic/Thinkstock

While the officials laid guidelines for blood bank, no action has been taken against the private hospitals.

mid-day had reported on how the private blood banks have been buying blood from the government-run Rajawadi hospital in Ghatkopar at Rs 100 per unit, only to provide it to their patients at rates hiked by as much as 20 times.

Rajawadi Hospital had given 1,025 units of surplus blood to private hospitals, charitable trusts and blood banks from January 2013 to December 2014.

This was done with the intention of not letting the blood expire due to prolonged storage. However, the hospitals charged patients between Rs 1,750 and Rs 2,250.

Acting on the basis of the report, MDACS officials seized a total of 26 units of blood from private hospitals and blood banks between August-December 2015.

The officials also issued guidelines to avoid such practices in the future. Blood bank officials from the hospital said instructions have been given to the blood bank to take precaution while issuing the blood. "The blood was given only to ensure minimal wastage. We haven't received any guidelines but they have only given a few instructions for us to follow," said Dr Sharad Arulekar, BTO and Public Information Officer of Rajawadi Blood Bank.

Shrikala Acharya, director of MDACS, said while their responsibility is to provide human resource to the blood banks, they acted on the report and then asked the concerned hospital to take necessary precautions.

"The blood banks maintain and share blood among themselves on credit basis to ensure minimal expiry. But we asked the higher officials of the blood bank to take precaution based on the report," said Acharya.