Punjab govt plans crackdown on illegal blood banks

LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Dr. Yasmin Rashid has said that severe action will be taken all illegal blood banks across the province and non-licensed blood banks would be considered illegal.

While chairing a meeting on Monday the health minister said that the blood screening process was being further improved besides enhancing capacity building of the Punjab Blood Transfusion Authority (PBTA).

She said that blood banks were functional in all public hospitals of the province. The performance of blood banks was being improved by giving funds to the Punjab Blood Transfusion Authority, she added.

Yasmin Rashid said that vacant posts in the PBTA should be filled immediately. She said that the standard of blood banks would be brought up to international standards, adding that cleanliness should be ensured in blood banks at all costs.

She said the blood transfusion system would be centralized as per Punjab Blood Transfusion Safety Act 2016. As many as 41 blood banks in Punjab had already been closed for not implementing the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

It has warned such blood banks to shut down their business immediately. The general public has been advised to visit only registered blood banks.

She expressed satisfaction over the reduction of coronavirus cases in the province due to smart lockdown, adding that overall statistics of the deadly virus in the city have declined.

The minister said the figure shows that the number of people with COVID-19 in hospital has fallen at a slower rate than the number of people were dying previously.

The minister said that the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha will be a testing time for the nation. “If the people don’t take precautions and are careless, the declining graph of the virus is likely to increase again, as it did on Eid-ul-Fitr,” the minister warned.