In order to improve the standards of Blood and its components, the central government through the Drugs Controller General of India, has formulated a comprehensive legislation to ensure better quality control system on collection, storage, testing and distribution of blood and its components. Central government amended from time to time the existing requirements of blood banks in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and rules there under to meet the latest standards. Consequent to a public litigation case recently, Supreme Court of India directed central government to enact a comprehensive legislation on blood banks in collection, storage, testing and distribution of blood and its components. In this context, the office of Drugs Controller General of India made draft rules to further amend the existing law in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and rules there under to meet the direction of the Supreme Court.
National blood policy
Government of India published in the year 2002 the National Blood Policy. The objective of the policy is to provide safe, adequate quantity of blood, blood components and products. The main aim of the policy is to procure non remunerated regular blood donors by the blood banks The policy also addresses various issues with regard to technical personnel, research and development as well as to eliminate profiteering by the blood banks by selling blood. The policy also envisages that fresh licenses to stand alone blood banks in private sector shall not be granted and renewal of such blood banks shall be subjected to thorough scrutiny.
The business of blood banking has become a complex balance of safety and efficiency. As they strive to protect patients’ health and deliver safe blood and components to the right person at the right time. Laboratories are under constant pressure to do more with less—including fewer skilled workers and scarcer financial resources. While technology has made many routine tasks easier to perform, the demand for blood continues to increase and the pace of processing blood for hospitals and healthcare providers continues to accelerate. In developing responsive solutions for modern blood banking laboratories, instrument makers must actively listen and thoroughly understand the challenges lab managers face. Only by doing so can they provide safe, efficient solutions based on solid science. When instrument manufacturers find effective solutions, that can make an enormous difference for laboratories.
Over the past two decades, we’ve seen a continued shortage of highly skilled technologists and scientists entering the laboratory science workforce. Automation is becoming a standard part of blood bank laboratories because it can help eliminate the labor-intensive, time-consuming manual testing processes that require specialized skills and significant experience to master. Ultimately, automated testing can increase the lab’s capacity, allowing it to serve more patients and operate more efficiently, and the difference can be dramatic.
Ensuring safety: priority number one
Significant progress has been made in blood safety during the past few decades3and it continues to be the number-one priority for blood banks and hospitals worldwide. Screening blood and its components to ensure that they are free of infections, disease and parasites and compatible with the blood type, antigens and antibodies of the patient who needs the transfusion are the highest concern for any blood bank.
To meet rigorous compliance standards and provide blood and blood products that are safe, most blood banks are turning to standardisation across instrument platforms and implementing new testing technologies like Column Agglutination (CAT). These new testing methods are easier to use, and help reduce error and variation among technologists and tests because they provide stable and clear endpoints that are highly precise, while delivering objective, consistent results.
Optimising performance: service solutions
To operate at peak performance, today’s blood banks also need expert services and support that complement this new generation of technological solutions. To maximise a laboratory’s productivity, there is a growing need for technologies that reduce the potential for instrument downtime and prevent workflow interruptions to ensure that instruments are available when needed.
Protecting life: a shared commitment
As the science of blood and blood component management continues to change, laboratories need vendors who can support their evolving requirements. That means not only innovating next-generation systems that are intuitive, flexible and designed to be an extension of the laboratory’s team, but also showing the science behind the technology—proving that a product lives up to its promises. New solutions must not only be produced, but backed up with evidence that gives blood bankers certainty about their results. Protecting the safety of the world’s blood supply is a commitment from which any blood bank and any company that serves and supports blood banks, must never waver.
– Dr Lona Mohapatra, HOD Lab Services , Rockland Hospital