Illegal blood banks

Unfortunately in absence of sufficient volunteer blood donors, ‘professional donation’ continues to be the mainstay of transfusion services in Bangladesh

It is something of an open secret that illegal blood banks do exist in Bangladesh. However, as a recent report in a Bengali daily stated that one such bank existed in a hospital at a metropolitan city. After the law enforcers busted the illegally established blood bank, it was revealed that blood was collected and stored in risky conditions. Blood is the lifeline of the human body and we can only imagine how many diseases and possibly deaths have been caused by the merchants of death. If such an establishment can exists in a major urban area of the country it does not take much effort to realise that many such illegal blood banks are there in operation in different areas of the country posing grave health risks to the citizens. 
Unfortunately in absence of sufficient volunteer blood donors, ‘professional donation’ continues to be the mainstay of transfusion services in Bangladesh. There is obviously a much higher risk of infection as many hospitals and clinics are yet to have proper screening facilities. This lack of screening is endangering lives of thousands of people. For the relatives of the patients it often takes a lot of time to arrange blood and operations are sometimes forced to be cancelled because of a lack of blood. 
Because of these and other factors there is a demand for unscrupulous blood banks to provide blood illegally from paid donors who often come from high-risk population carrying communicable diseases. Also a significant number of these donors are drug addicts and sell their blood too often to support their habit. It is illegal to take blood from any professional donor. However, it is difficult to prove an illegal blood transaction because that requires an official complaint lodged by the person who pays the donor and families are often so desperate that they consider the black market blood donors lifesavers.
Illegal blood trade is flourishing in connivance of unscrupulous hospital employees. Most of the time the agents are found roaming on the hospitals keeping track of people who need blood. They lure patients or their attendants to buy blood from unauthorised sources. The moment the minimum basic rules of blood donation are flouted, it ceases to be the humane-compassionate act.
We urge the concerned authorities to closely monitor the blood banks in the country and carry out regular drives to unearth illegal blood banks. There are regulatory laws but these are not being implemented in its letter and spirit. There is a lack of national standards and protocols that are needed to run blood transfusion services in an efficient and quality-assured manner.

 

Illegal blood banks

Unfortunately in absence of sufficient volunteer blood donors, professional donation continues to be the mainstay of transfusion services in Bangladesh

It is something of an open secret that illegal blood banks do exist in Bangladesh. However, as a recent report in a Bengali daily stated that one such bank existed in a hospital at a metropolitan city. After the law enforcers busted the illegally established blood bank, it was revealed that blood was collected and stored in risky conditions. Blood is the lifeline of the human body and we can only imagine how many diseases and possibly deaths have been caused by the merchants of death. If such an establishment can exists in a major urban area of the country it does not take much effort to realise that many such illegal blood banks are there in operation in different areas of the country posing grave health risks to the citizens. Unfortunately in absence of sufficient volunteer blood donors, professional donation continues to be the mainstay of transfusion services in Bangladesh. There is obviously a much higher risk of infection as many hospitals and clinics are yet to have proper screening facilities. This lack of screening is endangering lives of thousands of people. For the relatives of the patients it often takes a lot of time to arrange blood and operations are sometimes forced to be cancelled because of a lack of blood. Because of these and other factors there is a demand for unscrupulous blood banks to provide blood illegally from paid donors who often come from high-risk population carrying communicable diseases. Also a significant number of these donors are drug addicts and sell their blood too often to support their habit. It is illegal to take blood from any professional donor. However, it is difficult to prove an illegal blood transaction because that requires an official complaint lodged by the person who pays the donor and families are often so desperate that they consider the black market blood donors lifesavers. Illegal blood trade is flourishing in connivance of unscrupulous hospital employees. Most of the time the agents are found roaming on the hospitals keeping track of people who need blood. They lure patients or their attendants to buy blood from unauthorised sources. The moment the minimum basic rules of blood donation are flouted, it ceases to be the humane-compassionate act. We urge the concerned authorities to closely monitor the blood banks in the country and carry out regular drives to unearth illegal blood banks. There are regulatory laws but these are not being implemented in its letter and spirit. There is a lack of national standards and protocols that are needed to run blood transfusion services in an efficient and quality-assured manner.