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Voices

Chandra Viswanathan: When Blood Safety Fails, We All Bleed – A Call for Reform and Responsibility

Chandra Viswanathan/ResearchGate

Nov 3, 2025, 05:46

Chandra Viswanathan: When Blood Safety Fails, We All Bleed – A Call for Reform and Responsibility

Chandra Viswanathan, Consultant at PlasmaGen BioSciences, shared on LinkedIn:

”When Blood Safety Fails, We All Bleed: A Call for Reform and Responsibility

Last week, five children with thalassemia in Chaibasa, Jharkhand tested HIV-positive after receiving contaminated blood.

Their families are devastated.

The medical community is shaken.

And yet, many of us are not surprised.

We’ve spoken about this in forums, panels, and policy meetings. We’ve flagged the gaps. We’ve pleaded for reform.

But the silence continues—and so do the tragedies.

India’s blood transfusion service (BTS) is built on good intent but outdated scaffolding.

The Drugs and Cosmetics Act (DandC Act)—our primary regulatory framework—has not kept pace with science or safety.

Technologies like nucleic acid testing (NAT), chemiluminescence (CLIA), higher generation Elisa tests are available; leukoreduction, red cell washing, and irradiation have been in use for over 20 years, yet they find no mention in the Act. These are not luxuries—they are global standards. Their omission is not benign; it is dangerous.

We operate in a fragmented ecosystem of over 4000 blood banks, many small and technician-run, doing their best with limited resources.

But can they afford the costs of safety without support?

Dual licensing (state and central), legally banned blood donation camps, and lack of component separation create a system where unsafe practices persist—not out of malice, but out of desperation.

Hospitals open blood banks to meet insurance or MCI mandates.

Replacement donation becomes the norm.

And patients—especially in mofussil regions—get a raw deal. Differential pricing of components, lack of transfusion guidelines, and inconsistent testing protocols further erode trust.

As fractionators, we see the inside. We invest in quality, only to find plasma compromised because centers opt for the cheapest tests. We don’t generalize—but we cannot ignore. Many of my colleagues agree with this view. We feel helpless.

So what now?

We need clarity, courage, and collective action.

The National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC) and National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) must take a proactive role.

The Technical Resource Group (TRG) must review the plasma policy, define standards, and issue clear directives.

The FDA must clarify that safety-enhancing procedures are not illegal.

And we must empower blood banks—not punish them—with accreditation, regional testing centers, and financial models that support safety.

Modern India cannot afford ambiguity in blood safety.

Progress demands that we acknowledge gaps, address them, and move forward—together.

Let this story not fade.

Let it fuel change.”

Stay updated on the emerging with Hemostasis Today.

AIDS bleeding disorders Blood Safety Health Hematology Hemostasis Hemostasis Today Medicine NACO NBTC Plasma Donation Plasma Policy thrombosis Transfusion Medicine TRG

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