The Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority (SBTA) has sealed 24 blood banks across the Sindh province in 2015, out of which four were seized in Karachi over violation of laws.
Talking to PPI, Provincial Programme Manager and Secretary Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority (SBTA) Dr Zahid Hasan Ansari said that 24 blood banks were closed across the province in 2015. He said four registered and 20 un-registered blood banks had been sealed across the province for not following the criteria set by the authority and other laws.
He informed that 152 blood banks had been registered in the Sindh province out of which 83 were registered in Karachi, while about 170 blood banks had been sealed across the province since the inception of programme.
Dr Ansari said no new blood bank had been opened in Sindh in 2015 as the SBTA had introduced strict policy for opening new blood banks under the lights of World Health Organisation (WHO) directives.
He said illegal blood banks in various parts of the city or province were sealed and their equipment was seized after their activities had first been monitored by the teams constituted for the said purpose.
He said the monitoring teams had sealed blood banks in Karachi, Jamshoro, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Qambar Shahdadkot, Jacobabad, Badin, Thatta and other districts of province.
He said crackdowns would continue throughout the province against illegal blood banks or labs in future, especially those which were not following the instructions and criteria of SBTA. In 2014, 48 blood banks had been seized across the Sindh province due to substandard blood supply, commercial blood banking and various other irregularities.
