India needs national guidelines for safe blood transfusion and this has a major economic impact on healthcare costs, according to Ranjit Shahani, vice chairman and managing director, Novartis India Limited.

Blood safety is major concern globally going by the increasing incidence of Transmission Transfusion Transmitted Infections (TTIs). However, in the absence of clear-cut guidelines and in order to avoid critical consequences, we need to have a notification to this effect at the earliest, Shahani told Pharmabiz during his recent visit to Bangalore.

The multinational pharma major’s parent company arm Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Inc. set up the first Nucleic Acid Test Lab in a government medical centre segment at the 668-bed Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital in Bangalore on March 14,2011. The country already has several NAT labs in the corporate hospital space but the Bowring lab is the first in the state government segment to offer NAT which would speed up NAT from the earlier 15 days with ELISA to 3-5 days.

The Novartis India chief insisted on the need for a TTI guidelines going by the rising incidence of fatal cases and more so with recently reported instance at Jodhpur ensuing out of serious lack of awareness.

A guideline would make it compulsory to report the blood donor test reports before transfusion for dreaded diseases like HIV, Hepatitis B & Hep-C which would prevent the transmission and reduce the spread of such infections, stated Shahani.
 
Voluntary blood donors are the major source of safe blood in India. Blood Transfusion experts from corporate hospitals in Bangalore like Manipal and Apollo, stated that the National Blood Policy of India, 2002, called for the disclosure of TTI test reports to the blood donors. But in the absence of well-defined notification processes, blood banks in many parts of the country went on to discard blood samples that were TTI-positive.

According to Dr Siddiq Ahmed, professor, Bangalore Medical College and Research Centre, a three-pronged strategy of TTI guidelines, testing and counseling would create a crucial connection between the donor and safe blood. Donors must be aware that their blood will be tested for TTI and also informed if tested positive as this was the only way to maintain blood safety, retain voluntary donors and shelve those with high risk behavior.

In order to minimize the risk of TTI, World Health Organization and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) insist on donor identification with caution and with filling of donor forms which would help screen participants methodologically.
 
The Drugs and Cosmetics Act mandates testing of every unit of blood for malaria, anti-HIV 1 and 2, anti-HCV, HBsAg and RPR for syphilis.