Odishatv Bureau
Cuttack: Once sold, can not be returned. That might be the warning by retailers of consumer goods. But the Red Cross Blood Bank in the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack too follows the same way. Bottles of blood once taken by a patient cannot be returned even if not used for medical care. Naturally, the bottles said to be the lifeline of a human being have to be dumped. And that too when the blood bank authorities crow that there is abject shortage of blood due to lack of donors.

Our channel had some days ago aired a programme where our objective was to show the viewers how the blood bank authorities waste blood by throwing away blood packets. It seems to have had no impact.

When Ranjan Kar admittted his ailing father in the SCB medical, the doctors suggested that the old man needed to be operated upon and to collect at least two packets of blood from the blood bank. Later on, the doctors had a change of mind and said that blood was no more required as Ranjan`sd father no more required surgical treatment.

The suggestion by the doctors was a good news for Ranjan. But the problems began then. Ranjan went to the blood bank to return the two packets. But the officials were hellbent not to acccept the packets on enough pretexts. They cited the mandatoryt rule that blood once sold cannot be taken back since blood comes under scheduled drugs category.

The SCB authorities clarified that blood sold in the name of one patient cannot be given to another patient. The blood packets hence have to be dumped in the dustbin. Who then is at fault ? The rule, the blood bank authorities or the doctors ? That is a million dollar question.

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