Dhanbad district will soon get a new state-owned blood bank with a storage capacity of 400 units on the Sadar hospital campus near Randhir Verma Chowk.
According to the secretary of the Dhanbad Red Cross Society, Kaushlendra Kumar Singh, on Tuesday, necessary equipment for the blood bank was brought with funds from National Rural Health Mission. Among the equipment bought are deep freezers, blood bank refrigerator, donor couch, plasma throwing bath, dielectric tube sealer, blood mixer and collector, semi-automated reader, centrifuge for Gel ID cards and refrigerated water bath (cryo bath) were purchased in Ranchi in 2020. He said all those necessary items will be brought back to the district hospital.
Singh said, “The items were purchased in Ranchi which could not be brought back to Dhanbad due to Covid-19 restrictions. Those will be handed over to the district Red Cross Society which will carry out the installation work to start operating the new blood bank from the hospital campus.”
“The Department of Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare will arrange manpower for the blood bank,” said Singh.
A new blood bank near the district headquarters will prove extremely beneficial for the patients during any emergency.
Till 2012, a blood bank with 900-unit storage capacity used to operate on the same campus. However, due to space constraints, it was shifted to the Shahid Nirmal Mahto Memorial Medical College and Hospital (SNMMCH) at Saraidhela.
He said the health department had planned to set up a blood bank on Sadar hospital campus 2013. There was also a plan to establish two storage facilities, with a capacity of 25 units each, at Baghmara and Govindpur Primary Health Centres. However, the plan could not materialise due to various reasons. Singh said the new proposal was finalised on December 17.
“To improve the standard of the blood bank, we should first raise awareness among people. They should be encouraged to donate blood,” said Gopal Bhattacharya, general secretary of social organisation Bengali Welfare Society. Till now, Bhattacharya has donated blood for almost 56 times.
