The National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC) is planning to augment capacities of 736 blood component separation facilities across the country in consultation with the state governments and respective state blood transfusion councils (SBTCs).

This is part of the Union health ministry's mandate to monitor 1,163 component separation facilities in the country to promote rational use of blood and its availability. Implementation of the concept of component separation is being prioritized because according to officials, the blood availability through voluntary donation is increasing.

Constituted in 1996, NBTC aims to promote voluntary blood donation, ensure safe blood transfusion, provide infrastructure to blood centres and develop human resource. It is the policy formulating apex body in matters pertaining to operation of blood centres, and coordinates with SBTCs and ensures involvement of other ministries and health programmes for various activities related to Blood Transfusion Services (BTS).

According to a senior official, “This will help produce in excess 3 lakh litres of plasma on an annual basis. We are in consultation with the state governments to provision a budget for the same.”

Plasma separated from blood can be further fractionated to produce many useful life-saving components such as factor VIII, fibrinogen, albumin and gamma globulin. Components are to be separated from blood within six hours.

In order to overcome the challenge of consistent supply of plasma, Union health ministry has also now permitted blood banks having component separation facility to exchange their surplus plasma with indigenous fractionators in the country based on a uniform exchange value of Rs. 1,600 per litre of plasma.

This will facilitate blood banks provide surplus plasma to indigenous fractionators in the country under the conditions that the fractionators must undertake to fulfill needs of Indian market first.

Demand for plasma currently stands at over 70,000 vials per month in the country, according to official sources. The manufacturers, however, are able to produce only half of the current demand.

There are over 2,760 blood banks across the country. Nearly 80 per cent of the blood collected is transfused as whole blood. One practical way of using blood effectively is to separate its various components into red blood concentrates, fresh frozen plasma, cryo-precipitates and platelet concentrates, according to a health official. There are other advantages of separation, such as the extended shelf life of components.

When separated, a unit of blood helps meet requirements of more than one patient. Many ailments call for the transfusion of only specific components, not whole blood. In a dengue affected patient, platelet count in the body goes down, weakening immunity. Since there is no medication available to cure the disease, it becomes imperative to improve the platelets level through transfusion of platelets.

Experts however say that besides the fact that blood banks primarily stock whole blood based on voluntary blood donation drives, there is also a need to strengthen hospital blood banks to aggressively take up component separation to generate packed cells, platelets and plasma on a consistent basis.