Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh Inaugurates Upgraded Blood Component Separation Unit at Mohali Civil Hospital

SAS Nagar (The Uttam Hindu): Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education Research Minister of Punjab, Dr Balbir Singh today inaugurated the upgraded Blood Component Separation Unit at Civil Hospital Mohali besides launching two Blood Collection and Transpiration Vans.

Addressing the gathering of Nursing and Medical students besides the staff of Medical College, Punjab State Blood Transfusion Council, the Health Minister said that the achievement of getting 3rd National Rank in voluntary blood donation by the state have boosted the morale of the state to make people aware of the importance of the blood donation besides appropriate arrangements to handle it safely and carefully for further use. 

He said that earlier the state has 26 Blood Component and Separation Units in Government Sector and it is the 27th such unit has been launched at Civil Hospital Mohali. This upgraded unit will make available Packed Red Cells, Fresh Frozen Plasma, Platelets, Platelet Concentrate, Cryoprecipitate and Platelets Rich Plasma that will be separated by this unit from the blood of a single person. Earlier, other blood components facility was not available here.

He said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government is going to upgrade eight more Blood Centres to Blood Component Separation Units including Indian Red Cross Ludhiana, Rajpura, Malerkotla, Kotkapura, Batala, Fazilka, Khanna and Anandpur Sahib. Apart from that to make availability of whole blood, four new blood centres have been planned to set up at Sunam, Derabassi, SBS Nagar and Samana. Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh said that the facility of whole blood and blood components is available free of cost to the patients getting treatment there while the Private Hospitals would be provided with these services at a nominal price, in case they need. 

He said the Punjab state has 182 licensed blood centres, out of which 49 are being run by Government Health Facilities, 7 by Military and 126 by Private institutes. He said that the Blood Collection and Transportation vans launched today would be beneficial for the outdoor camps that have a capacity of storage of 100 units at a time with two couches for donation.

The Health and Family Welfare Minister, further said that Punjab’s Government Blood Centers have contributed 1,83,600 units of blood against the total collected blood across the state during 2023-24. Moreover, 1,82,211 units of blood were donated by the donors voluntarily in the Government Hospitals that constitutes 99 percent of the donation. A total of 2062 blood donation camps were organized by the state which is a bigger achievement in the service of humankind.

MD, Punjab Health Systems Corporation, Varinder Kumar Sharma, Director Principal of Ambedkar Institute of Medical Sciences Dr Bhavneet Bharti, SDM Mohali Damandeep Kaur, Additional Project Director, Punjab State Aids Control Society Dr Bobby Gulati, Joint Director Blood Transfusion Services Punjab Dr Sunita Devi, Dr Renu Singh Civil Surgeon and SMO Dr H S Cheema were also present there.