71 districts in country without blood banks : Choubey

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : There are 3,263 licensed blood banks in the country  including 348 in Uttar Pradesh (UP),  340 in Maharashtra, 309 in Tamil Nadu, 230 in Karnataka, 180 in Telangana, 179 in Andhra Pradesh(AP), 169 in Kerala, 160 in Gujarat, 157 in Madhya Pradesh (MP), 151 in Rajasthan, 146 in West Bengal, 123 in Punjab, 123 in Haryana, 90 in Chhattisgarh, 84 in Bihar, 83 in Odisha, 81 in Assam, 71 in NCT of Delhi,  51 in Jharkhand, 37 in J&K, 22 in Himachal Pradesh, 10 in Arunachal Pradesh, 10 in Mizoram, 5 each in Manipur and Nagaland, and 8 in Meghalaya.

There are 71 districts in the country without blood banks including 14 districts in Manipur, 12 in Manipur, 9 in Nagaland, 6 in Meghalaya, 4 in Telangana, 2 in Sikkim, 3 in Jharkhand, 4 in J&K, 5 in Bihar ( Arwal, Araria, Supaul, Banka, Sheohar), 4 in Assam, 2 in Gujarat, and 2 in MP.

Given the fact that due to various administrative reasons, State Governments carve out new districts periodically, need for blood in such districts continues to be catered through licensed blood banks in nearby districts and through blood storage centres set up in First Referral Units at Community Health Centres and select 24 hour Primary Health Centres.

Public Health being a State subject, setting up of blood banks comes under purview of States. However, the Government of India supports setting up of blood banks under National Health Mission as per proposals received. Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare) Ashwini Kumar Choubey stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on November 29, 2019, according to a PIB release.