DCA busts illegal human plasma, blood storage unit

Hyderabad: The State Drug Control Administration (DCA) busted a racket of illegal human plasma and whole human blood collections from various blood banks located across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and were indulging in unauthorised stocking and sale to various entities.

The DCA teams on Friday conducted raids on the premises of Haemo Service Laboratories, located in a residential building at Bhavani Nagar, Moosapet.

During the raids, the DCA officials discovered huge stocks of human plasma bags and bottles stocked in freezers located in the premises. Stocks of human serum and human blood were also found in the freezers.

According to DCA, the facility was carrying out repacking of the human plasma, whole human blood, and human serum illegally in a residential building in unhygienic conditions and selling them at an exorbitant price to various entities unlawfully. R Raghavendra Naik has been running the firm ‘Haemo Service Laboratories’ for the last eight years in the apartment, collecting plasma from various blood banks illegally and stocking them for sale in an unauthorised manner, said the DCA officials.

Raghavendra Naik has procured more than 6,000 units from the blood banks since 2016 and illegally sold them at huge profits. The DCA found that a human plasma bag of 150 ml procured illegally at Rs 700 was sold at Rs 3,800 to the firms.

During the investigation, Raghavendra Naik revealed that he illegally procured plasma, whole human blood, and serum from Srikara Hospital Blood Bank in Mythri Nagar, Madinaguda, Miyapur, Rangareddy district, New Life Blood Centre, Abid Ali Khan Lions Eye Hospital in Darulshifa, RR Hospital Blood Bank, Bhagya Nagar, Dharmapet in Kurnool.

The DCA officials also found in-vitro diagnostic kits regarding HIV, HCV, HBsAg, VDRL, and malarial parasites stocked at the premises.