Centre proposes to rename 'blood banks' as 'blood centres'

The Centre has proposed to rename 'blood banks' as 'blood centres' across the country and streamline the existing rules for blood donation.

The decision to rename blood banks as blood centres has been taken keeping in view global nomenclatures, a senior Health Ministry official said.

'Blood centres' will be authorised premises in an organisation or institution, as the case may be, for carrying out all or any of the operations, including collection, processing, storage and distribution of blood drawn from donors or received from another licensed blood centre and for preparation, storage and distribution of blood components, as per the proposed rules approved by the Drugs Technical Advisory Board recently.

"Internationally, there is no usage of the term blood banks, they are called blood centres. The decision to rename blood banks as blood centres has been taken in accordance with the international nomenclature," the official said.

The Health Ministry has further proposed streamlining the existing rules for blood donation, while elaborating them under 103 criterion as per which the minimum age for a blood donor remains 18 and the maximum 65 years.

The official said according to the proposed rules, women cannot donate blood for 12 months after delivery, six months after abortion, during breast-feeding and menstruation.

The draft rules also prohibit donation of blood by jail inmates or any other confinement and by a person with a history of residence or travel in a geographical area which is endemic for diseases that can be transmitted by blood transfusion and for which screening is not mandated or there are no guidelines in India.

The rules recommend deferring blood donation for six and 12 months after recovery following a minor and major surgery respectively, the official said.

Also, one cannot donate blood for three months after recovering from malaria, six months after recovering from Dengue and Chikungunya, and four months after recuperating from being infected by the Zika virus, as per the proposed rules.

The Drugs and Cosmetics Act will have to be amended to implement the rules now, the official said.