Blood bank puts unlicensed hospital in trouble

19 September 2012

biswabrata goswami
CONTAI, 19 SEPT: The blood bank at Contai Sub-divisional Hospital has been running without a licence for about 75 days.
While the authorities are planning to turn the hospital into a district-like hospital, they have taken little care about ensuring that its blood bank follows basic rules. Blood banks must follow the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, but officials of the Directorate of Drugs Control found Contai's violating even the basic regulations.
Blood banks are issued licences for five years at a time, and they must apply to the DDC to renew their licences at least a month before they expire. Contai's expired on 30 June and it applied for renewal on 8 July.
"On scrutiny of available papers, it appears that the blood bank deposited the prescribed fees of Rs 75,000 through T.R-7 challan on 21 December 2011, which was within the stipulated period of time, but the application for the renewal has been made on 8 July 2012. Therefore, their application for renewal for the period 1.1 2012 to 31.12.2016 is hereby rejected,” the director of drug control wrote to district authorities on 11 September. 
The DDC had informed the hospital authority a few months ago that it had failed to submit the necessary documents such as affidavits, lists of voluntary donors, and an original drug licence.
Finally, with the formalities completed on the Contai hospital side, the DDC conducted an inspection and found that the blood bank was flouting several rules, a hospital source said.
The thermographs which record the temperature of the refrigerators were not functioning properly, de-freezers were not in good condition and equipment was not calibrated accurately. Even the labels on the blood bags were not maintained according to the rules.
“The DDC official issued a notice to the hospital authority, demanding they make amends within 10 days, but there was no response," a hospital source said.
Mr Mamud Hossain, saha-sabhadhipati of East Midnapore Zilla Parishad, said, “The former superintendent deposited the prescribed fees much before the stipulated period, but the inspection reveals that the Acting Superintendent, Mr Jyotish Chandra Das, submitted application seven days later after the expiry. I have informed the Health Minister, Mrs Chandrima Bhattacherjee, about the matter and urged her to conduct a probe."
Mr Das said: “The matter was not known to me as I joined here a few months ago. As the application for renewal has been rejected, I will have to make a fresh application for renewal now”.