A National Workshop on Blood Safety to identify a roadmap with clear milestones for the country’s blood transfusion services was organised on 14-15 July 2022 by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), with support of World Health Organization Country Office for India and National Institute of Biologicals in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
The functioning of all State Blood Transfusion Councils over the past two years was reviewed and learnings from the best practices from states were discussed for potential replication and scaling up to strengthen the safety and availability of blood and blood products across the country.
The second edition of the National Standards for Blood Centres and Blood Transfusion Services to ensure uniformity and consistency in quality and safety of blood transfusion services and blood banking systems was released at the inaugural event.
Addressing the participants, Professor Atul Goel, Director General of Health Services, said that the workshop was the ideal platform to develop a country’s roadmap for ensuring universal access to safe, effective, and quality-assured blood products and services. Dr Mandeep K Bhandari, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, emphasized the critical role of the regulatory framework in providing safe blood transfusion services in India.
The Government of India (GoI) is committed to ensuring easy access to adequate and safe blood and blood components and, over the years, has taken numerous steps to achieve this goal.
WHO Country Office for India has been providing guidelines, standards, training and technical assistance to GoI in building and strengthening the national blood systems. It also provides continued support to the Hemovigilance Programme of India for strengthening the safety monitoring of blood and components in collaboration with the National Institute of Biologicals and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Speaking at the inaugural event, Ms Payden, Deputy WHO Representative to India, reiterated continued support from WHO India in implementing the roadmap for blood transfusion services.
Dr Anup Anvikar, Director, National Institute of Biologicals, said the several insights provided on the significance of quality control in blood transfusion services will help to strengthen collaboration with Hemovigilance Programme of India. Dr Anil Kumar, Additional Deputy Director General, DGHS, spoke on the need to examine the various convergence mechanisms between stakeholders for the smooth functioning of blood banks and the provision of quality and safe blood transfusion services.
Participants shared and deliberated on the best practices in states, innovative solutions, lessons learnt, and challenges faced by states in ensuring blood safety and transfusion services in India.