Substandard blood banks sealed in Sindh

KARACHI - About 48 blood banks had been seized across the Sindh province in 2014 due to sub standard blood supply, commercial blood banking and various other irregularities.

Provincial Program Manager & Secretary Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority (SBTA) Dr Zahid Hasan Ansari told a news agency that 48 blood bank have been closed across the province last year, out of which 28 were seized in Karachi over various irregularities. He said 17 registered and 11 un-registered blood banks had been sealed in Karachi city due to violation of criteria given by the authority and other issues. He said 20 blood banks were sealed in other parts of Sindh.

He said SBTA monitoring teams had launched crackdown across the Karachi city with the assistance of local police and town officials. Successfully closing down the various blood banks established around the major hospitals. He said; blood banks were closed over not maintaining quality and standards in supply of blood as per criteria set by SBTA.
Dr Ansari said; No new blood bank has been opened across the province in 2014 as SBTA is going to introduce centralized blood banking system in Sindh soon. He said four regional blood banks are under construction in different cities of the province like; Karachi, Nawabshah, Jamshoro and Sukkur.

He said; Three regional blood banks would be made functional from 1st July 2015, while a regional blood bank in Sukkur would be made operational from next year. All the small blood banks would be linked with big blood banks to ensure safe blood transfusion and supply to patients throughout the province. The aim of introducing centralized blood banking system is to bring blood banks' standard at international level.

He informed that 152 blood banks have been registered in the Sindh province so far, while about 148 blood banks had been sealed across the province in the last few year.

He said; Blood banks should be equipped with refrigerators, analyzer readers, microscopes, water baths, blood bank coaches, generators, centrifuge machinery, haemoglobin meters and other equipment.