Blood safety in India: Addressing the issue of infections (5 September 2022)

Summary

In this article, Anubha Taneja Mukherjee, Group Member Secretary of Thalassemia Patients Advocacy, writes about patient safety issues surrounding blood donation and transfusion in India. She looks at several recent cases of children with thalassemia being infected with HIV while having blood transfusions, and highlights growing concern about lack of regulation and inconsistent testing of donated blood in India. She argues that blood banks should use additional screening such as the Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAT) to provide a safety net and ensure that blood containing infectious diseases—such as HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis and malaria—is not unwittingly given to patients.