Western Railway (WR) has opened its first in-house blood bank facility for railway beneficiaries in Maharashtra and Gujarat at Jagjivan Ram Hospital (JRH), Mumbai Central.
Costing ₹2.5 crore, this is the first such facility made available in any railway hospital on Western and Central Railways.
According to a statement issued by Ravinder Bhakar, chief public relations officer of WR, at any given time, the blood bank can store 2,000 blood units. It also has a facility of platelet donation, which is very useful for cancer and dengue patients in need of platelets.
JRH is a zonal hospital of Western Railway, and has superspecialty departments like cardiovascular surgery, which require blood supply. It also gets many patients of dengue, who require platelets. About 80% of indoor admissions at the hospital are from outside Mumbai, making it difficult to arrange blood for them.
“JRH has developed an in-house facility [which will help arrange] blood for critically ill patients. Hence, this facility will be very helpful for patients during critical hours. JRH got a licence to operate a blood bank for whole blood and its components, including apheresis, on December 31, 2018,” Mr. Bhakar said.
A.K. Gupta, general manager of Western Railway, visited to the newly established facility on Tuesday, and was briefed by Dr. Yoganand Patil, senior DMO (pathology) and blood bank in-charge of JRH. Dr. Hemant Kumar, principal chief medical director of WR, Dr. Hafizunnisa, medical director of JRH, and other senior doctors were also present on the occasion.