HYDERABAD: Officials of the Drug Control Administration have conducted raids on nine blood banks in Hyderabad and found irregularities such as poor-quality items, discrepancies in records, and negligence in blood collection.
The raids were carried out on blood banks situated in Dilsukhnagar, Malakpet Chaitanyapuri, Lakdikapul, Himayatnagar, Secunderabad, Mehdipatnam and Malkajgiri.
According to the DCA, the officers detected several shortcomings during their raids, including lapses in blood and blood component testing, collection of excessive charges, inadequate record maintenance and lack of calibration of certain critical equipment.
The officials also found that there are lapses in the screening/testing of the blood at certain blood banks. For instance, AVS Blood Centre, Lakdikapul and Vivekananda Blood Centre, Mehdipatnam, failed to submit reconciliation records to demonstrate that the ‘testing kits’ required to carry out tests for HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, etc., were procured and consumed for blood bags issued by the blood banks.
The raided blood banks are
Balaji Blood Centre, Nalgonda X Roads, Malakpet, Hyderabad
Navjeevan Blood Centre, Kamala Nagar, Chaitanyapuri, Dilsukhnagar
AVS Blood Centre, Lakdikapul, Hyderabad
Rudhira Voluntary Blood Centre, Liberty Road, Himayathnagar
Prathima Sai Blood Centre, Old Lancer Lines, Beside Srikara Hospitals, Secunderabad
Thalassemia Rakshitha Voluntary Blood Bank, Putlibowli X roads, Koti, Hyderabad
Vivekananda Blood Centre, Ayodhyanagar Colony Blood Centre, Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad
Nandi Blood Centre, Balanagar X Roads, Medchal-Malkajgiri
MSN Blood Centre, Uppal X Roads, Medchal-Malkajgiri