After sitting on the proposal for many years, the Union Health Ministry is learnt to be finally firmed up the plan to set up the National Blood Transfusion Authority to streamline the transfusion services in the country, amid reports of increasing instances of malpractices in the sector.

The final draft for the same has been prepared by the National AIDS Control Organisation and ready for submitting to the department of legal affairs for further examination and approval, sources said. Besides, the ministry also is planning to frame laws to regulate blood collection and distribution, against the backdrop of recent instances of seizure of spurious blood products from some States.

Though the government announced the creation of National Blood Transfusion Authority a few years back and preparation of a bill in this regard, the health ministry had backtracked on the proposal following opposition from the concerned industry that the legislation would spoil the business of existing blood banks in the private sector by turning them as mere storage units linked to mother blood banks.

The authority is expected to regulate all activities related to the blood collection and transfusion and will make good laboratory practices mandatory for the blood banks. There are more than 2300 licensed blood banks in the country and Health Ministry is providing technical and financial support to around 1230 of the public and charitable blood banks. India already has a National Blood Policy and a National Blood Programme to ensure adequate supply of safe and quality blood. But the new legislation was being planned to define the roles of these authorities clearly and ensure quality of blood banks and infection-free transfusions.

The government had planned a four-pronged strategy to streamline the sector. Establishment of four Metro Blood Banks as Centres of Excellence in transfusion medicine, establishment of one plasma fractionation centre, creation of the blood transfusion authority and formulation of necessary laws to regulate blood collection were the four initiatives under this. International assistance has been sought from GTZ (Govt. of Germany) and WHO for these initiatives. The government expects to put all the components of the strategy operational in three years.

The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) in March 2008 had approved the proposal for establishment of four metro blood banks. The process of identifying a consultant to develop architectural drawings and bid document for selection of agencies to take up construction is being initiated, sources said.

The Cabinet has already given sanction to the proposal to set up Rs 250-crore plasma fractionation centre with a capacity to process more than 1.5 lakh litres of plasma at Chennai to ensure access of plasma derivatives to needy patients at affordable prices.