Upgraded blood component separation unit inaugurated at Mohali Civil Hospital

Punjab Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education Research Minister Dr Balbir Singh today inaugurated the upgraded blood component separation unit at Civil Hospital, Mohali, besides launching two blood collection and transpiration vans.

Addressing the gathering of nursing and medical students, besides the college staff, the minister said the state’s achievement of getting the third rank in voluntary blood donations in the country had boosted the morale of the people. He said appropriate measures had been undertaken to look after the process of donation in Punjab.

He said earlier the state had 26 blood component and separation units in the government sector, and this was the 27th such unit. This upgraded unit will make available packed red cells, fresh frozen plasma, platelets, platelet concentrate, cryoprecipitate, and platelet-rich plasma that will be separated by this unit from the blood of a single person. Earlier, this facility was not available here.

Eight more blood centres to blood component separation units, including Indian Red Cross Ludhiana, Rajpura, Malerkotla, Kotkapura, Batala, Fazilka, Khanna, and Anandpur Sahib, are soon to be upgraded, he said.

Apart from that, to make whole blood available, four new blood centres are planned to be set up at Sunam, Dera Bassi, SBS Nagar, and Samana.

The facility of whole blood and blood components is available free of charge to patients getting treatment at the civil hospital, while private facilities provide these services at a nominal price.

Punjab has 182 licensed blood centres, out of which 49 are being run by government health facilities, seven by the military, and 126 by private institutes.

"The blood collection and transportation vans launched today would be beneficial for the outdoor camps that have a capacity of storage of 100 units at a time with two couches for donation," he said.

Punjab’s government blood centres have contributed 1,83,600 units against the total collected blood across the state during 2023-24. Moreover, 1,82,211 units of blood were donated by donors voluntarily in the government hospitals, which constitutes 99 per cent of the donation. A total of 2,062 blood donation camps were organised by the state.