The Transfusion Medicine Department started initially as State Blood Bank. It was established in 1942 as a blood bank in the premises of KGMC (King George's Medical University). With passage of time the blood donation policy changed from professional to replacement & voluntary. The blood bank initially was known as the State blood bank as it could supply blood to all over the state of U.P. It was visited at that time by many dignitaries like the Honourable President Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy who himself donated blood and later by the Prime Minister Mr. Rajiv Gandhi.
The blood bank which was initially a part of the university was taken over by the Government. Later it was transferred back to King George's Medical University in 2003. This blood bank has been presently upgraded to the Department of Transfusion Medicine by the University. The blood bank was given the designation of "State of Art Model Blood Bank" because it had the authority to supply blood to any hospital of the state. It became one of the eight of such "State of Art Model Blood Bank" in the country. Previously only whole blood was supplied till 2004. Supply of about 10 units of whole blood in 1998 progressed to 30 units in 2004. The facility of component preparation and supply was started in 2004. Department of transfusion medicine was started under the guidance of Vice Chancellor Emeritus Prof. Saroj Chooramani Gopal.
After starting of components PRBC, FFP, Platelets, Cryoprecipitate and Cryopoorplasma were supplied. Educating the clinicians all over the state was an uphill task. Component preparation which was initially 10% in 2004 reached to 40% in 2009. In 2010 erstwhile Transfusion Medicine Department took a huge leap and has increased the component preparation to 90%. In March 2011, the Department has started with 100% component preparation and supply.
Supply of PRBC was initially 5% in 2004 & gradually increased to 30% till 2009. In 2010 PRBC supply leaped to 80% showing the growing awareness amongst the clinicians regarding rational use of blood.
FFP supply increased from 5% to 50% from 2004 to 2010.
Platelet supply which was hardly 5% progressed to 80% & it crossed all records and reached 90% in 2010.
The percentage of prevalence of TTI was 3% in 2008 and has now decreased to 1.5% in 2010.
HIV presently has also decreased to 0.14% as compared to 0.26% in 2008.
The Department has also started to provide Ieucoreduced blood to the patients.
Department of Transfusion Medicine has also succeeded in increasing its voluntary donation aided by the untiring efforts of various NGO's. Voluntary donation which was hardly 2% in 1998 progressed to 5% in 2004 and reached 60% in 2010.
NGO's participating in the voluntary donation programme were initially two and presently they are more than 30. They are associated with the Department contributing more than 60 blood donation camps in a year. In order to encourage these organizations the Department has encouraged them by felicitation programme in which mementos and certificates were given to all these organizations. Projects on "Platelet Storage" and "Cord blood stem cell banking" are ongoing in the Department of transfusion medicine. The work at the Department has been published in 5 international journals during a period of about one year published.
In order to upgrade the Department, the facility of EQUAS and counselling have been started. Undergraduate lectures in Transfusion Medicine are underway. Technology has been upgraded as recent equipments are now available with us. The Department which initially started as a blood bank has progressed to an academic as well as full fledged service Department catering to all over the state of Uttar Pradesh.
"Coming together is a beginning, Staying together is progress, and working together is success"
Vision
The Department of Transfusion Medicine aims at changing the blood supply system. We envisage a blood supply chain when blood will be provided to the patient only when it is needed. In exchange the Departments with blood requirement will send the replacement donors in advance.
The Department also aims to introduce NAT testing (Nucleic Acid Testing) for the blood units in an attempt to shorter the window period thus increasing the safety of blood. Another vision of the Department is to start gel crossmatch for the patients and thus improve the efficacy of crossmatching procedure. Besides this, the Department also envisages to provide irradiated blood.
