GUWAHATI: At least 63 districts in six states including Assam have no blood bank, informed the health ministry before the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey said public health informed the same while responding to questions on whether the government has taken adequate measures to equip each district with at least one blood bank.
In his answer, the minister said that 63 districts in India did not have a blood bank as per reports received till September 2020. States whose districts faced the blood bank crisis were Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Bihar, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
The 63 districts include 14 from Arunachal Pradesh, five each from Assam and Bihar, 12 from Manipur, seven from Meghalaya, and nine from Nagaland
He added that since health is a state subject, the onus lied to the state government to ensure the establishment of blood banks in the state.
National Blood Transfusion Council, MOHFW has mandated that there should be at least one bloodbank in each district.
India at present has 3321 licensed bloodbanks that collected 1.27 crore blood units in 2019-20.
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