ITANAGAR, Jun 25: The State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC), Directorate Health Services, has refuted the allegation of selling voluntarily donated blood to the needy patients by some of the blood bank staffers.
In a press statement, SBTC Deputy Director Dr Nabam Budh stated that there was a rumour doing rounds, accusing the blood bank staffers of selling voluntarily donated bloods, which he said is false.
He said that the allegation, which went viral in social media, might send a negative message to the public and also discourage the voluntary blood donors and those NGOs working in this field.
“Blood is available free of cost in the state, subject to availability. It cannot be sold by any means in the blood banks,” the deputy director said.
He informed that “the cost of processing a unit of blood is about Rs 1500 to Rs 2000, which is borne by the government. Thus, blood is absolutely available free of cost”.
Dr Budh further informed that professional blood donation has also been banned all over the country since 1998.
“We welcome any suggestion made in favour of voluntary blood donation and blood services in the state, but maligning the reputation of the department and its staff through such false allegation is not only uncalled for but highly disappointing,” he said.
He said that such baseless allegation will only hamper the voluntary blood donation services in the state, which will ultimately affect the needy patients.
“Anybody with any information regarding selling of voluntarily donated blood by any staff of the blood bank can forward it to the official email of the SBTC stateblood2017@gmail.com,” said Dr Budh, who also is the member secretary of the SBTC, Directorate of Health Service.
