Baramulla, June 9: It may sound strange but there is only one blood bank with a valid license in three districts of north Kashmir. The four blood storage centers that operate in the districts are without official permission. The more worrying fact is that one of the districts, Bandipora, does not have even a blood storage center.
In district Baramulla there are three blood storage centers, one each at Sub-District Hospitals Sopore, Uri and Tangmarg, all of them without licenses. These centers, reports say,have only limited storage facility. Mostly they have no blood available leaving the doctors with no option but to refer the patients to Srinagar hospitals.
Even the lone maternity hospital of north Kashmir, Mother and Child Care Hospital Sopore, does not have a blood bank. The hospital conducts around 5 surgeries daily and in the absence of a blood bank the procedure becomes a dicey proposition.
“Imagine a maternity hospital without a blood bank. It is very hard to work without such a facility. Usually at the time of emergency we collect blood from a donor and if the donor is not present then we are forced to refer a patient,” said a doctor requesting not to be named.
Similarly in district Kupwara, the only blood bank available does not have any license to operate. Same is the case with blood storage centre at Sub-District Hospital Handwara.
The situation is serious in Bandipora district where the major hospital which has performed around 6790 major and minor surgeries last year has no blood bank. The surgeries carried out in the district therefore pose a great danger to the safety of a patient.
“In the absence of a blood bank, there is always a risk and sometimes it can prove fatal for the patient,” said a doctor at the hospital.
It is the relatives which donate blood and in case this is not available the doctors refer patients to Srinagar. “Blood bank is lifeline of a patient during surgery. Surgical procedure without a blood bank means that the common man’s life is not valued,” said Abid Hussain of Bandipora.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 9 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 9 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 10 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST