Lucknow: To tighten oversight of blood moved in bulk between blood banks and reduce the risk of unsafe transfusions, the Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration (UPFSDA) has sent a proposal to the National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC) seeking mandatory re-testing of blood units at the recipient centre.
UPFSDA has recommended that at least 1% of units in every consignment, or a minimum of one unit per consignment—whichever is higher—should be tested. The proposal follows inspections carried out in March 2026 across 208 blood centres in Uttar Pradesh. These findings led to regulatory action, including the cancellation of licences of 55 centres.
During the drive, authorities reported serious irregularities involving infection testing practices, record-keeping related to temperature-controlled storage, availability of trained technical staff, hygiene conditions, and documentation.
The testing, it says, should be conducted at a govt centre and in the presence of a drug inspector. Officials said the aim is to verify the quality of blood supplied from outside the state and ensure that blood meeting prescribed standards reaches patients. However, UPFSDA said gaps in documentation made it difficult to confirm whether out-of-state suppliers were consistently following prescribed rules for blood collection and testing.
Under the proposal, blood units that arrive through bulk transfer would be subject to additional screening at the receiving facility. They noted that infections such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV can be transmitted through contaminated blood, making quality checks critical. Shortcomings were also found in paperwork associated with large consignments of Packed Red Blood Cells (PRBC) being procured from other states. At present, infection testing is primarily the responsibility of the supplier blood centre.
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In a three-point set of measures, UPFSDA also proposed that at least two pilot tube segments be provided with each unit, that units be marked “Bulk Transferred Unit” and carry the name, address and licence numbers of both supplier and recipient centres, and that recipient centres be required to inform the local drug inspector before accepting a bulk transfer. Additionally, the agency suggested preparing a standard operating procedure (SOP) and checklist for each consignment, covering blood bag and pilot tube condition, test reports, details of both centres, transfer time limits, and temperature logs during transport. Download the TOI App.