In a direct violation of a Bombay high court order to make blood banks available in every ward of the city, 50% of the wards are yet to have a blood bank. Moreover, the 2017-18 budget — recently announced by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — does not have any new blood banks on the cards. Responding to a Right to Information (RTI) query, civic body officials revealed that out of the 24, only 12 civic wards have a civic, government-run blood bank. The BMC included the issue in the recent budget but recently a number of blood banks run by BMC have been shut down due to non-availability of staff,” said Kothari. “A number of violations like shortage of technical staff and equipment are in fact reported in these blood banks but if we shut down blood banks, it is the public who will suffer,” said the official.

Source: Hindustan Times April 08, 2017 18:25 UTC