West Bengal health department officials on Tuesday searched six private blood banks across the state over suspicions that they sold blood outside West Bengal over the past six months in violation of regulations.
Event Context
The raids were held in Kolkata, Howrah, East Burdwan, West Burdwan and North Dinajpur districts.
Bengal health minister Dr Sharadwat Mukherjee told reporters that the investigation against a suspected inter-state racket started last week.
“We ordered an investigation after records collected from various private blood banks showed that they organised donation camps but did not disclose the actual amount of the collected blood to the blood transfusion council, which is mandatory. The undocumented blood was sold in other states between January and June,” Dr Mukherjee, an oncologist who won his first assembly election from Bidhannagar earlier this year, said.
The National Blood Policy prohibits the sale and purchase of blood since it is a voluntarily donated commodity of human origin.
Officials said records collected by the West Bengal Blood Transfusion Council during its surprise visits indicated that these banks sold not only blood but also plasma to private banks in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
The council functions under the state health department to supervise, monitor and regulate blood transfusion services and voluntary blood donation camps across Bengal.
“A blood bank in South 24 Parganas district’s Mathurapur was shut down on July 25 after officials found that it lured voluntary donors with gifts, which is illegal. A well-known blood bank in Kolkata’s Beliaghata was raided on Tuesday, and it was found that plasma worth more than ₹1 crore was sold, but the state was not informed,” a health department official said, requesting anonymity.
