With only three days left in the deadline, only 140 blood banks out of 600 working in the city have applied for registration, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The Punjab Blood Transfusion Authority (PBTA) had directed all blood banks operating in the city to submit applications for registration.
PBTA Secretary Dr Jaffar Saleem said that there were over 600 blood banks in the city. “There are around 2,000 blood banks in the province. Most of them have only a single technician,” he said.
He said that the authority would seal all the unregistered blood banks after the expiry of the deadline.
“We have tough criteria for blood banks to meet before they are given a licence to operate under the Safe Blood Transfusion Act 1999,” he said.
He said that the regulations had been formulated to stop fatal diseases such as hepatitis C and AIDS from spreading through transfusions.
He said that no further relaxation would be given to blood banks operating in the city. “Fifteen blood banks have been approved for registration so far. They will be given their licences next week,” he said.
He said that 50 blood banks had been asked to improve their collection standards. “There are blood banks that have been given notices to close down due to the unhealthy working conditions there. One such blood bank, operated by the Alkhidmat Foundation, did not have a refrigerator for storing blood,” he said.
Alkhidmat Foundation general secretary Ahsan Butt said their blood bank had ceased operations. “We were in the process of shifting the facility. We are working on building a new facility that will have the capacity to store 1,000 bags of blood,” he claimed.
Health Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik on Saturday directed the PBTA to hire the services of hematologists. He said that a hematologist each should be nominated as blood inspector in each town of Lahore.
He asked the Lahore DCO to direct district government officers to cooperate with the Health Department in launching a campaign against sub-standard blood banks.
He was presiding over a meeting that was attended by Lahore DCO Capt (retd) Muhammad Usman, Health Additional Secretary (tech) Dr Salman Shahid and German Consultant (GIZ) for Blood Transfusion Paul Kohorrt.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2014.
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Politics on dead-bodies, this is what PPP has been doing for past two decades.