Hemovigilance is important for safety of a common man because it is a set of surveillance procedures covering the entire blood transfusion chain intended to collect and assess information on unexpected or undesirable effects resulting from the therapeutic use of blood components, and to prevent their occurrence or recurrence, explained Dr Zarin Bharucha, chairperson, Federation of Bombay Blood Banks  (FBBB) while delivering her presentation on the concept and objective of haemovigilance.

With an aim to introduce Haemovigilance Programme of India (HvPI) to monitor transfusion reactions and reporting adverse events during blood transfusion, FBBB in collaboration with National Institute of Biologicals (NIB) organised a seminar recently in Mumbai to generate awareness amongst the member blood banks.

On the occasion, Dr Surinder Singh, director, NIB gave a lowdown on HvPI and informed, "Presently, 207 centres located in blood banks, medical colleges, government and private hospitals are enrolled under this programme. Data in transfusion reaction reporting form (TRRF) from various centres across the country enrolled under HvPI is being collected through a software, Haemo-Vigil indigenously developed by IT division of NIB."

Other speakers like Dr Akanksha Bisht spoke on reporting and analysis of adverse reactions and Dr Abhay Bhave gave an insight into recognition of acute transfusion reactions by bedside staff.

FBBB, a non-profit charitable organisation registered with the charity commissioner, Mumbai aims at propagating voluntary blood donation amongst the public in the city and promoting uniform technical standards among member blood banks in Mumbai to achieve adequate and safe blood supply for the city.

Dr Zarin Bharucha is the chairperson and Dr Neelam Nijhara is the secretary and treasurer of the organisation. It has as of today 48 members comprising of government, semi-government, municipal, Red Cross and trust hospital blood banks in the city of Mumbai.

NIB is an autonomous institution under the Union health ministry which ensures quality of biologicals and vaccines in the country available through domestic manufacturers or imports.

HvPI at the national level was launched on December 10, 2012 by NIB functioning under the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW), as the national co-ordinating centre (NCC) in 90 medical institutions within the country to track adverse reactions associated with blood transfusion and blood product administration.

HvPI aims to identify trends in adverse reactions and events, thereby to form transfusion policy, target areas for improvement in practice, stimulate research, raise awareness of transfusion hazards, give an early warning of new complications to improve safety of transfusion for patients.

Such information is also key to introduce required changes in the applicable policies, improve standards, systems and processes, assist in the formulation of guidelines, and increase the safety and quality of the entire process from donation to transfusion. It is a boon for hospital deans and directors, major blood users among the clinicians and blood bank officers from all government, municipal and private hospitals, drug regulators, officials from other government and municipal agencies.