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| GMC goes without blood component preparation, discards 1142 units; license yet to be renewed | | Health service defunct in Jammu | | Sumit Sharma
JAMMU, Feb 11: 'Blood' a precious thing for life is not best utilized in the GMC and Associate hospital as huge quantity of it is discarded every year. Not only this, its components are also not being prepared in the hospital due to paucity of machines and space. Further the license to operate the blood bank for processing of whole Human Blood and for preparation of sale or distribution of its components is yet to be renewed.
The lacunae are admitted by the GMC&H authorities in an RTI query filed by RTI activist Deepak Sharma.
The RTI having No AHJ /RTI/2014/145, divulges that about 20,000 to 22,000 units in SMGS and more than 13,000 units in GMC are issued every year, but its components including Red Blood Cell, Platelets and Fresh frozen plasma and cryoprecipitate have been prepared in SMGS hospital only.
It is also divulged that 1142 units of blood had been Hemolysed/ discarded in the year 2011,2012 and 2013 which speaks volume of the wastage of the blood, which normally expire in 35 days from the date of its collection, however, none of the units crossed the expiry date on 17/1/2014, admitted GMC &H authorities.
Meanwhile, sources within GMC hospital said that the preparation of the components of the blood is not being taken due to paucity of modern equipments and space, adding, now, the GMC authorities have decided to use the drugs store for blood bank lab.
Sources further said that the tale is not end here as Health department has wasted huge amount of money in purchasing Umbo bags without seeking requirement from hospitals, giving dent to public exchequer. These millions of bags, which normally use two to three in number in a month, have been kept in store of hospitals in Jammu for years together. Further, contrary to this, department has not been able to supply printing papers for Ultra Sound machines, despite of repeated request from doctors in different hospitals.
Pertinently, the modern concept of blood transfusion is to transfuse to patients only the component he/she requires. Moreover, the advantage of preparing components is that from a single donation, many patients can benefit. Component transfusion also minimizes the risks associated with whole blood transfusion.
Following components are prepared from a unit of whole blood
Red Blood Cells
These are prepared from the whole blood by removing plasma. The advantage of transfusing red blood cells over whole blood, is that they can raise patient's hematocrit and hemoglobin levels while minimizing an increase in the volume. The shelf life of red blood cells is same as whole blood, i.e 35 days.
Platelets
These are prepared by centrifuging whole blood to obtain platelet rich plasma which is further centrifuged to obtain platelets. These platelets are then suspended in approximately 50ml of plasma and stored at 22-24c under constant agitation for five days.
Platelets prepared from a unit of blood are not enough for treatment. A patient usually requires six such units of platelets to be therapeutically effective and therefore six donors are required for this.
On the other hand there are millions of platelets in a human body and a sufficient number can be obtained from a single donor without any adverse effects. This is done by a procedure called apheresis.
Fresh frozen plasma and cryoprecipitate
These are other components prepared from a unit of whole blood. They are usually used to treat deficiency of coagulation factors when such factors are not available. |
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