As part of Centre’s plan to set up four metro blood banks as centre of excellence in the cities of New Delhi and Chennai, the Delhi Cabinet on Friday approved a proposal to provide 900 square metres of plot for setting up the blood bank at Hospital-cum-Medical College in South West Delhi’s Dwarka. The entire funding for the project would be borne by National AIDS Control Orgnaisation (NACO) of the Central Government.
This blood bank would have capacity to process more than 1,00,000 units of blood annually. The blood bank would cater to five States, including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi.
Presently, Dwarka Hospital is spread on a 15 acre plot, having nine floors and two basements. “It’s a Central Government-funded project to improve the blood transfusion services in the country. There are also plans to set up metro blood bank in Mumbai for which resources have to be identified to help materialise the plan,” says a senior health department official.
As per the proposal, a nine-storeyed building would be constructed at the site. Design DPR Consultant for the project has been identified to initiate work.
Access to safe blood to all the needy is the primary responsibility of NACO. Currently, it is supported by a network of 1,103 blood banks including 132 Blood Component Separation Units (BCSUs) and 10 Model Blood Banks. NACO supported the installation of blood component separation units and also funded modernisation of all major blood banks at the State and district levels.
In addition to constantly enhancing awareness about the need to access safe blood and blood products, NACO has supported the procurement of equipments, test kits and reagents as well as the recurring expenditure of Government blood banks and those run by voluntary/charitable organisations that were modernised. There are still 29 districts in the country with no facilities for supply of safe blood.