Union government would disburse around Rs.30 crore before the month end to propel the national haemovigilance programme in the country. The amount is part of the government’s Rs.100 crore budget for the pharmacovigilance, bio-vigilance, materio-vigilance and haemovigilance programmes.

Specifically for the haemovigilance programme , the government will provide a regular grant of Rs.4 lakh to every blood bank for infrastructure, training and miscellaneous expenses. The programme which spans between December 2012-17 is to be implemented in 369 medical colleges and 2,545 blood banks across the country to help put in quality systems in blood transfusion and use of blood products besides, provide a systematic surveillance of adverse transfusion reactions in patients.

Since its implementation in December 10, 2012, 106 centres which includes 90 medical colleges, 16 hospitals and dedicated blood banks are being monitored by the National Institute of Biologicals (NIB) which is the coordinating agency for the programme.

The NIB has devised its path of progress where between 2013-15, it intends to complete the implementation at the remaining 270 medical colleges and 2528 blood banks. In 2015-16, it would establish a Centre of Excellence for Haemovigilance create a global knowledge platform. In 2016-17, efforts will be made to ensure all of India’s medical colleges and blood banks adhere to the haemovigilance programme where it would track blood collection, follow-up blood transfusion in patients and report blood reaction related incidents.

The objective is to ensure total blood donor and recipient safety, devise an evidence-based policy to promote safe blood transfusion and blood product administration. Further, it mandates a regulatory requirements to clamp down labeling errors, need for record donor epidemiology, a ‘look-back’ policy on serological positive patients, prevent blunders in blood banking, avoid near-misses in donor incidents and create a rapid alert system for reactions.

The enforcement of good haemovigilance practices would spur medical tourism in the country. The apprehensions among international patients on the quality of blood transfused and use of blood products would be at bay, if the country enforced a stringent haemovigilance programme. It would only give the much-needed assurance to the overseas patients on the safety and security of blood used. With the implementation of the haemovigilance programme, India will also be on the international network where 26 countries covering US, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and 21 from the European Union are part of the haemovigilance system. These countries have put in place high quality systems in transfusion and use of blood product products, Dr Surinder Singh, director NIB, and member, advisory committee, Pharmacovigilance Committee, government of India and former drugs controller general of India (DCGI) told Pharmabiz.

“The haemovigilance programme will now stimulate the evidence based culture of reporting in the country and create of a national database. Further, when India is home to organ transplants and medical device implants , there is need for transparency in the blood and blood products. This is where the haemovigilance programme will give the much needed support to create confidence in our blood banking efforts,” he added.