The Telangana State Drug Control Administration (TSDCA) is yet to take action against the blood banks which have been found violating blood storage safety norms recently.
Upon inspecting around 130 blood banks across the state, the TSDCA had issued showcase notices to about 100 blood banks last month. But even after more than one month has passed, majority of the blood banks have not responded to the notices and the TSDCA is yet to take any action against the violators.
According to sources from DCA, so far only 50 per cent of the blood banks have responded to the notices while a majority is yet to respond. “We are waiting for some more people to respond to the notices; we will initiate action based on their responses. For those who have responded we will re-inspect and check if things are in place or not,” said a senior DCA official.
The authorities at the DCA seem to have gone slow on the blood banks, even as almost one and half months have passed after the notices have been issued to the blood banks. As majority of blood banks have been found fault with malfunction equipment and non-functioning of refrigerators, the authorities want them to upgrade and get ready for the next inspections.
Last time during their inspections, the DCA officials have found most blood banks do not have a thermograph, which helps in maintain the storage refrigerators at the right temperatures. The DCA also found that washers were missing in blood testing units. Washers help in cleaning the units once the tests for disease like AIDS are conducted.
Technicians are now forced to clean the equipment manually. Other issues were over pricing, lack of maintenance of records, low technical manpower, poor equipment maintenance and inadequate area.
Not just blood banks, the DCA also seems to be going slow on pharmaceutical companies. It has also issued violation notices to about 20 pharma companies earlier, but so far no action has been taken against the drug manufacturers.
As per DCA sources, lack of manpower and huge work burden is another factor that is hindering the authorities. Moreover, the bifurcation of the state and slow pace of bifurcation of employees among TS and AP are also some of the reasons for the slow pace of working of the DCA.