Inauguration of New blood bank at KMC Manipal

Media source

Manipal, 20 October 2010: Chancellor of Manipal University, Dr Ramdas M Pai inaugurated the new blood bank of Kasturba Hospital here on Saturday. It has a modern infrastructure to support operations of blood collection, processing and distribution. The mission of the blood bank is to supply safe blood components of assured quality to every needy patient of Kasturba Hospital and other hospitals in the vicinity.

 

Pro Chancellor Dr HS Ballal, Philanthropist G Shankar and others were present on the occassion. "All these are well supported by an inspiringly designed space, equipment and trained personnel,” said Dr Sudha Bhat, director of the blood bank and added; “It has comfortable donor couches in fully air-conditioned building with fully automated equipment for blood grouping, testing and matching”.

 

 

The blood is separated into components, thus ensuring that the patient gets only the required component.  With every unit of blood collected, Kasturba Hospital blood bank is able to fulfill the requirements of four patients.  “Safety is paramount and to ensure the safety of blood, huge investments are made to procure state of the art machines that check for every contamination and disease,” Dr Bhat said.

 

About 16,000 units of blood are collected and 30,000 units of components are issued annually. Blood Bank has special commitments for poor patients, hemophiliacs and thalassemia patients. The blood bank is open 24 hours all days of the week.