Blood bank centre collected 3,581 units in 2017-18

Tribune news service

Chandigarh, August 14

The Rotary and Blood Bank Resource Centre (RBBSRC), Chandigarh, had held 56 blood donation camps in 2017-18 in Punjab, collecting 3,581 units of blood. During the period, the centre supplied blood and its components to over 8,700 patients.

Surinder Paul Kaur, administrator of the RBBSRC, said in 2016-17, the centre had supplied blood to 8,621 patients from the state while it collected 2,940 units of it.

She said the RBBSRC had sought clarification from the Punjab State Blood Transfusion Council (PSBTC) to implement the provision of sharing 20 per cent of the collected blood with the local authorities, keeping in mind the consent of donors and organisers of blood donation camps.

The centre, since its inception in 2004, has collected blood from donors in Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal.

Kanta Saroop Krishen, founder and former secretary general of the Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohematology, said the impressive safe blood service was established in 1964 in Chandigarh.

The society has been functioning as the parent body for voluntary blood donation in the country since then.