DCA conducts surprise raids on nine blood banks in city

Hyderabad: As part of a special drive, special teams of Drugs Control Administration, conducted risk-based surprise inspections at nine blood centers in city on February 21 and 22, 2024. The DCA officers detected several shortcomings during the raids at the blood banks, including lapses in blood and blood component testing, excessive charges collected by blood banks, inadequate record maintenance, and lack of calibration of certain critical equipment and so on. Show-Cause Notices have been issued to nine blood banks to initiate departmental actions.

Special teams carried out risk-based inspections of the blood centers comprehensively, with a focus on screening/testing the blood collected from donors for various transmissible diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis and so on. The inspections were aimed to verify the charges collected by blood banks for whole blood and blood components such as Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP), Platelet Concentrate, Packed Red Cells and so on testing of blood components as per the ‘Guidelines issued by the Government of India in June-2022 for recovery of processing charges for blood and blood components by blood centres’, maintenance of registers/records regarding blood donation, screening of blood, testing results, etc., to ensure the maintenance of storage conditions (temperature) for blood and components, and other regulatory requirements concerning blood centers.

The surprise raids were carried out at the following Blood Banks on February 21 and 22, 2024 are: Sri Balaji Blood Centre, Nalgonda crossroads, Malakpet; Navjeevan Blood Centre, Kamala Nagar, Chaitanyapuri, Dilsukhnagar; AVS Blood Centre, Lakdikapul; Rudhira Voluntary Blood Centre, Liberty Road, Himayathnagar; Prathima Sai Blood Centre, Old Lancer Lines, beside Srikara Hospitals, Secunderabad; Thalassemia Rakshitha Voluntary Blood Bank, Putlibowli crossroads, Koti; Vivekananda Blood Centre, Ayodhyanagar Colony Blood Centre, Mehdipatnam; Nandi Blood Centre, Balanagar crossroads, Medchal-Malkajgiri District and MSN Blood Centre, Uppal crossroads, Medchal-Malkajgiri District.

As per regulatory requirements, blood banks are mandated to conduct rigorous screening and testing of blood donors and donated blood for infectious diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, and malaria, using approved screening tests and techniques.

During the special raids, DCA officers detected lapses in the screening/testing of the blood at certain blood centers. For instance, AVS Blood Centre, Lakdikapul and Vivekananda Blood Centre, Mehdipatnam, failed to submit reconciliations to demonstrate that the 'testing kits' required to carry out tests for HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, etc., were actually procured and consumed for blood bags issued by the Blood Bank.

Certain blood banks were collecting excessive charges on whole human blood and its components, such as Single Donor Platelets, Platelet Concentrate, Fresh Frozen Plasma, Packed Red Cells and so on without adhering to the ‘guidelines’ issued by the Government of India for the charges to be collected by blood banks.

For instance, Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP) shall be issued for Rs 400/- as per the guidelines, whereas Sri Balaji Blood Centre, Malakpet, collected Rs 1500/- and Nandi Blood Centre, Balanagar, collected Rs 1400/-. Platelet Concentrate shall be issued for Rs. 400/-, whereas Navjeevan Blood Centre, Chaitanyapuri, collected Rs. 1200/-; Single Donor Platelets shall be issued for Rs 11,000/-, whereas Sri Balaji Blood Centre, Malakpet, collected Rs 15,000/- as a processing charge.

DCA officers also detected shortcomings with respect to the calibration of certain critical equipment. For example, data loggers connected to refrigerators and deep freezers to ensure temperature maintenance are not in working condition at Prathima Sai Blood Centre, Secunderabad. Certain blood banks are not operating under the supervision of approved technical personnel. For instance, at Prathima Sai Blood Centre, Secunderabad, blood bank staff, including medical officer, blood bank technician, and registered nurse, are not available. Similarly, at Vivekananda Blood Centre, Medhipatnam, technical supervisor is not available. Certain blood banks have failed to accurately maintain critical records. For instance, at AVS Blood Centre, Lakdikapul, records for screening/testing of blood collected for HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis, and Malaria are not being maintained. AVS Blood Centre also failed to maintain critical registers such as master record, donor record, issue register.

During surprise raids at nine blood banks, DCA officers detected several violations concerning the mandatory requirements for blood banks. Show Cause Notices have been issued against the nine blood banks for not adhering to the norms to initiate departmental actions. Blood banks are mandated to rigorously follow and adhere to regulatory requirements to ensure the safety and integrity of the blood supply. Surprise raids shall be intensified on blood banks (blood centres) to verify their practices. Stringent action shall be taken as per the law against violators.