A blood bank attached to a private medical college hospital in Thrissur district in Kerala was found to be grossly violating the Drugs & Cosmetics Act for the last four years and was raided by the state drug control officials.
The blood bank attached to the Kerala Medical College at Cherpulasserry was operating without valid licence, and officials at Thrissur district conducted a raid at the unit and seized all materials and documents, and filed a case with the judicial court at Ottappalam.
According to Khwaja Ahmmad Mohsil, the senior drug inspector at Cherpulassery, the management of the Kerala Medical College hospital had not applied for licences for the blood bank till the raid was conducted, but the unit was operating since its inception in 2013. The medical college has got the recognition from MCI only this year, but they were running a hospital with all facilities for the blood bank. The senior drug inspector said he had seized hundreds of blood bags, blood transfusion sets and documents received from blood donors which were available at the unit at the time of the raid. All the seized materials and documents were produced at the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court.
Khwaja Ahmmad said, on enquiry, the hospital authorities had received a no objection certificate for starting the blood bank from the Blood Transfusion Council at Thiruvananthapuram in last December. Further, he said the hospital authorities applied for licence immediately after the raid. Whereas, following the legal action, the medical college authorities stopped the operation of the blood bank unit.
Taking serious note of the situation, the Deputy Director of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in Chennai, Dr. S. Manivannan, told Pharmabiz that he would take the matter seriously and enquire about it with the state drugs control authorities. He said since it was found operating illegally, the state authorities should take legal action and file case with the judicial court. According to him, the state drugs control authorities have not intimated him about the illegal operation of the blood bank.
A case of violation of 18 (c) (operation without valid licence) of the D&C Act was taken against the blood bank unit. As per the Act, the violator will get three years imprisonment and a fine of Rs.one lakh as punishment, said Khwaja Ahmmad.
According to information from governmental sources, hundreds of blood banks and blood storage centres in India are operating without licences as it either expired in the last few months or are pending for renewal. Several cases are pending with various courts in different states in India at present. But the case against the blood bank of the Kerala Medical College hospital is different; they were working without applying for licence.