Kolkata, Aug 29 (IANS) Amid various incidents of irregularities in blood donation camps, organized by privately operated blood banks, voluntary and non-government organizations in different pockets of West Bengal, the health department has decided to tighten norms for organisation of such camps, collection of blood units and their distribution.
The first and foremost factor that the state health department is giving topmost priority on this count is about more transparency in appointment of medical officers for such blood donation camps. An insider from the state health department said that recently it had come to the notice of the state health department that some blood donation camps, to save cost, are hiring medical students instead of qualified doctors as medical officers for such blood donation camps.
“In any blood donation camp, the donor concerned is first examined by qualified doctors about his health conditions. So, the roles of the medical officers in blood donation camps are immense and any misjudgement on their behalf during the pre-donation medical examination can prove to be quite risky for the donors concerned. Hence, the department is giving top priority to ensure that the blood bank organizers appoint only qualified doctors with valid registration numbers as medical officers for such camps. Under no circumstance medical students or medical interns should be appointed as medical officers for such blood donation camps,” the state government.
According to him, the blood donation camp organizers will have to check the background of the qualified doctors, especially their registration numbers, before appointing them as medical officers of such camps. The organizers will have to keep the state health department updated about the details of the medical officers appointed by them for such camps. Any violation in the matter will attract strict action by the department against the organizers,” said the state health department official.
At the same time, he added, the state government will ask the authorities of all medical colleges & hospitals in the state, state-run or private, to brief the medical students there about the danger of participating in blood donation camps as medical officers both for them and the donors.
“The medical students often might not be aware that accepting offers to operate as medical officers can attract severe disciplinary action against them including denial of registration. So, it will be the duty of the medical college & hospital authorities concerned to make their students aware of the disciplinary complications in the matter,” the state health department official said.
Already the state health department has started inspecting the available infrastructure of different private blood banks in the state amid incidents of black-marketing of blood and plasma surfacing from different corners of the state.
The inspection is intended to check whether these private blood banks have the requisite infrastructure like screening and preserving of collected blood beyond a particular capacity and whether that infrastructure there matches with the amount of blood collected by them by conducting frequent blood donation camps
IANS
src/mr