CHENNAI: In order to better monitor and strengthen the supply chain management of blood and blood products, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) will be introduced in the blood banks of two major hospitals in the State on a pilot basis.
Speaking at the State Assembly, while passing a demand for grants to the health department on Thursday, Minister Ma Subramanian said that the system will be set up at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) in Chennai and at Rajaji Medical College Hospital in Madurai, at a cost of Rs 2.08 crore.
According to doctors, the system will mainly help monitor the temperature maintained in the refrigerator, where blood and blood components are stored. “Any deviation in temperature will be alerted by the RFID system,” said Dr S Subash, Nodal Officer for RFID technology implementation, and Head of Department, Blood Bank at RGGGH.
Shot in the arm for blood bank staff
The Radio Frequency Identification system works on radio frequency waves and has two components, a reader and a tag. While RFID reader will be connected to the computer, the tag will be attached to the blood bag, which is bar-coded, the doctor explained. Details like date of expiry, date of storage, shelf life of components, etc, will be fed into the RFID tag.
“Not only will it help in monitoring the stock at the blood bank, but also make it easier to trace blood bags. Many a time, we keep searching if a bag is still in the storage system or has already been issued. This will reduce the work load of the staff. If the technology is successful, it will then be extended to other government blood banks as well,” Subash said.
The RFID system is seen as a welcome move since several complaints have been raised in the past about improper maintenance of refrigerators storing both screened and unscreened blood. It may be noted that in 2019, the health department had issued an order to initiate action against medical officers of blood bank, staff nurses, and lab technicians at the Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital in Hosur and Krishnagiri Government Hospital after nine maternal deaths were reported possibly due to reactions to blood transfusion. It was alleged that the cold storage system was not maintained properly and blood unfit for transfusion had been given to the women.