The shady business of blood banks

The busting of a blood bank selling date-expired blood at busy Shahbagh in the capital is highly disturbing. Two large hospitals are located in the area. The raid was conducted by a mobile court of Rab-2 on September 14. The same team carried out a raid on another blood bank at Chawk Bazar.
The operations have witnessed punitive actions against the owners. In both the clinics the mobile court found a common scene: shabby condition, and lack of proper arrangements to collect and store blood. Blood was found in bags shoved into unclean refrigerators. The bags bore no information about the dates of the stored blood's collection and expiry. At the Shahbagh clinic, the precious fluid in the bags was found to be turning green.  
Law enforcers periodically make swoop on dubious blood collecting centres in Dhaka. These clinics are generally found engaged in brisk business in the older part of the capital. They have mushroomed in a large neighbourhood close to Dhaka Medical College Hospital over the years. In spite of the continued busting of these blood banks, their activities go on unabated. Allegations are there that these clinics purchase blood mostly from financially rundown drug addicts. They are professional blood donors. Majority of these junkies are reported to be hepatitis B virus carriers. Apart from the licensed blood banks selling unusable blood, the law enforcers also keep detecting fake clinics. These spurious blood banks have long been operating along with the legal ones --- which are engaged in their dubious business, though. In coping with the onslaught coming from these two fronts, the genuine blood banks are found fighting for their survival. The media has repeatedly been pointing out the rackets involve ill-famed blood banks and a section of corrupt elements manning the authorities concerned.
The very detection of a sloppily performing blood bank at Shahbagh is quite alarming. Maybe, it's just a tip of the iceberg  -- perhaps hinting at the existence of dozens of other such clinics operating in the area clandestinely. Apart from the two premier hospitals, the area has a bustling retail medicine market. The pharmacies sell different types of medicines, including the life-saving ones. Besides serving patients at the hospitals, these outlets cater to a large number of people living in the vicinity. In such a medically busy area, desperate people in need of blood cannot be resisted from rushing to commercial blood clinics. The centres selling stale and unsafe blood pose a mortal threat to terminally ill patients. They comprise a great hazard to public health.
On most occasions, unsuspecting relatives and friends of the patients do not bother to have the blood quality tested. With patients in critical stage, and in urgent need of blood, close relatives become desperate to procure it. This is a time when people find themselves facing a Hobson's choice. Most of them do not have the time to distinguish between pure and substandard blood. The dealers of fake blood wait for these gullible sections of people.     What is appalling, the relevant administration and authorities do not seem to have even a semblance of control over the blood banks. They are running their business scot-free.
There is no reliable statistics on the blood banks operating across the country. That people in need of blood are literally held hostage by these clinics does not require elaboration. In the absence of proper surveillance and monitoring, the mushrooming of blood banks of dubious quality cannot be checked.
shihabskr@ymail.com