Authorities from the National AIDS Control Society (NACO) have said that Mumbai will have to wait for two more years for a state-of-the-art Metro blood bank project at the LTMG Hospital, Sion, and the delay has escalated even the cost of the Rs 340-crore project by Rs 60-70 crore. The officials confirmed that the revolutionary project, which is supposed to change the face of blood transfusion services in the country through four sentinel blood banks in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, will be carried out in phases. They said funds for Mumbai will be released only on the completion of Delhi and Chennai Metro blood banks. Hence, though the state government approved the project back in 2011, the future of the Mumbai Metro blood bank lies on the funds released by the Central Government, and leftover funds from the ongoing projects at Delhi and Chennai.

BMC and Mumbai District AIDS Control Society (MDACS) authorities are clueless about the cause of delay, which has postponed the project by four years. The deputy director general of NACO says left over funds from Delhi and Chennai blood banks and funds sanctioned by the state government will be released for Mumbai and Kolkata projects. Pic/Getty Images