The Federation of Indian Blood Donors Organisations (FIBDO) today urged Union Health Minister J P Nadda to establish the NBTA for the monitoring of the blood banking system in the country.
 

Members of FIBDO, the largest representative body of blood donors, met Nadda in Delhi. The delegation was led by the organisation's national vice-president Ajai Srivastava. They submitted a charter of demands to the Union minister, stressing for fundamental changes in blood banking and its monitoring system, including the establishment of the National Blood Transfusion Authority (NBTA). Srivastava said that Nadda had assured the delegation of necessary actions in this regard.

The minister also said that the government was working hard to achieve the goal of 100 per cent voluntary blood donation with the help of NGOs, he said. National general secretary, FIBDO, Biswaroop Biswas said that the major demand raised in the meeting with Nadda was to stop the practice of demanding blood from patients and ensure that the total blood be arranged and supplied by hospitals.

It was agreed that 100 per cent use of component therapy was one of the solutions to meet the large demand of blood, he said. Srivastava said that by using this system, one unit of blood could be utilised to save at least four patients and transfusion of whole blood would be discouraged. The delegation also urged the minister to launch programmes in schools and colleges to prepare them as future blood donors. The National Blood Transfusion Council and State Blood Transfusion Councils should also be set up, and blood banks should be operational round-the-clock, FIBDO said.