The State is witnessing an acute shortage of blood invarious hospitals. While around 4.50 lakh units of blood are requiredevery year in the hospitals, nearly 4 lakh units are available in theState.
Around 3.92 lakh units of blood were collected in 2015 across the State out of which 1.72 lakh units were collected from donors. The rest was collected in exchange by the blood banks. A total of 83 blood banks are functioning in the State of which 57 are managed by the State Government and 26 by private stakeholders.
While 57 blood banks are functional in the premises of Government hospitals and medical colleges, it is not clear whether these blood banks are run by the State Government or the Red Cross.
However, those blood banks are executing State Government’s different programmes and schemes. Under mother and child security scheme, blood has been provided to around 17,000 pregnant women and 1,500 infants through these 57 blood banks.
Besides, free blood is being provided to the farmers’ families and BPl families under Krushi Bima Yojana. The blood
banks are providing free blood to the patients suffering from Thalassemia disorder and
accident victims as per Government orders.
The service charge for blood processing and conservation is considerably lower in the State. While the blood receiver pays only `210 per unit blood in Odisha, the charge is `1,050 in Delhi, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
However, the service charge is higher in private blood banks where the receiver pays
`1,500-2,500 for per unit blood.
Around 80,000 units of blood were collected in Odisha through Jivaan Bindu programme and nearly 25,000 units through Ama Odisha in the year 2015.
Besides, the leading agencies such as Commissionerate Police, Red Cross, Satya Sai Baba and Marwari Yuva Manch are engaged in collecting blood through various programmes.
While the blood banks in other States like West Bengal and Maharashtra are managed by the respective Governments and permanent employees are appointed for the purpose, the employees in blood banks in Odisha are not appointed by the Government or the Red Cross.