MUMBAI: The high spoilage of blood stored in blood banks was revealed by data provided by the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) in response to an RTI query by Chetan Kothari . Maharashtra , which is the only state to have crossed the one million mark in blood collection , also topped the dubious list with maximum wastage of whole blood followed by West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Maharashtra, UP and Karnataka bagged the top three positions in discarding the highest units of red blood cells. UP and Karnataka wasted the maximum units of fresh frozen plasma. In 2016-17, over 3 lakh units of fresh frozen plasma was discarded, which is ironic given that the product is imported by several pharma companies to produce albumin.

“The figures are alarming because blood shortage is a chronic problem in our country. It exists everywhere, right from the most interior parts of the country to metros like Delhi and Mumbai,” said Kothari. India has an annual shortfall of 3 million units of blood. Lack of blood, plasma or platelets often becomes the cause for maternal mortality and deaths in accident cases.

Crusaders for safe blood blamed the crisis on the absence of a robust blood sharing network between the banks and hospitals. Mass camps have particularly come under fire with many blaming the local politicians for using blood donation camps as an easy tool to please their constituencies. Dr Zarine Bharucha of the Indian Red Cross Society said that a collection of upto 500 units is what is acceptable and manageable. “But we have seen and heard of camps where 1,000 to 3,000 units of blood is collected. There is no way to screen a donor or take their medical history. Most importantly, where is the place to store so much blood,” she said, adding that what is needed is patient awareness. “Why can’t people walk into regular banks and donate once every three months,” she said.

A single unit of whole blood can be broken into components such as red blood cells, plasma and platelet. However, most government-owned blood banks don’t have fractionalization facility that can process the blood and break it into components. “This alone results in a huge wastage as doctors nowadays insist on transfusing components. A physician treating a dengue patient, for instance, would prefer to give a platelet transfusion instead of unnecessarily pumping the patient with bottles of whole blood,” said a senior blood bank officer.

Dr Satish Pawar, head of Directorate of Health Services in Maharashtra said that the wastage can be attributed to a noble health plan to curtail maternal deaths. “We have created more than 200 storage centres in interior areas for emergencies. We have takers for emergency blood only once a week or once in two weeks. But we would rather be prepared to save a life than worry about unused units of blood,” he said. He added that the state is working towards creating more component separation facilities.

Dr J S Arora of the Delhi-based National Thalassemia Welfare Society rued that people in desperate times are forced to pay multiple times for a bottle of blood. “We have an online system where all the banks are supposed to update their stock status real time but it’s under-utilised,” he said.

NACO officials could not be reached for an official comment. A senior health ministry official told TOI that NACO has allowed banks to transfer units since last year.

