Upcoming blood bank in UKL awaits manpower, machinery
Source: Chronicle News Service / R Lester Makang

Ukhrul, January 28 2022: Even as the authority of the Ukhrul District Hospital (UDH) is working on establishing a new blood bank centre, the non-provision of requisite manpower and machin-ery and equipment is delaying the process.The blood bank centre once oper-ationalized will be the first ever such facility in the entire district.According to an official source, infrastructural development of the upcoming facility commenced since last year.

Necessary preparations for setting up of the new facility have been made, including its designat-ed site, space and rooms within the precinct of the hospital fulfilling all the requisite criteria, it said.The source further informed that a set of necessary equipment has been installed at the designated site already.A space comprising two rooms measuring 20x36 feet and 8x10 feet has been earmarked for the purpose, it said, adding that the rooms are well lit with adequate availability of electrical sockets for Blood Bank equipment.

"There is a regular 24 hours supply of electricity with the provision of power backup generator, along with a provision of 24 hours running water tap with sink.

One air conditioner machine is already available for the Blood Bank to maintain ambient room temperature.

Among the already installed equip-ment items included a Blood Roller Mixture, a Blood Bag Tube Sealer, an Auto Haematology Analyser, an Auto Chemist Analyser, an ELISA Plate Reader, an ELISA Plate Washer, two Blood Bank Refrigerators and a Platelets Incubator.However, the delay in providing the requisite manpower and other necessary items is affecting the pro-cess of its operationalization.According to the source, the ser-vices of at least one medical officer (MO), three staff nurses, three lab technicians, three Grade IV staffers and two sweepers are essential to run the facility.It said that MO Pathologist will have to be designated as medical officer in-charge of the Blood Bank from among the available pool of doctors posted."As the hospital is acutely short of staff nurses and running with less than 50 per cent sanctioned post strength, necessary posting of the three staff nurses will be necessary to make the centre a fully operational unit," it said.

Accordingly, three staff nurs-es would be required for 3 shifts of 8-hr duty each.Similar strength of lab technicians will be required for the same shift pattern, it said.

Disclosing that currently only two lab technicians are posted at the hospital, the source continued, "They are being utilised in our in-house Lab and additional services of three lab technicians are required for round the clock functioning of the upcoming unit." The source further in-formed that the existing pool of Grade IV staffers is limited and that additional staffers would be needed.

Same is the case for sweep-ers who need to be posted for 12 hours round the clock duty on rotational basis, it said.

It is learnt that a host of other machinery require-ments is yet to be provided to bring the upcoming blood bank centre into operation.Among the requirements are Blood collection Monitor, Weighing Machine, Clabscale (SF400c), Refrigerator with UPS backup, Olympus Com-pound Microscope, desktop computer set, blood striper, benches for patients/blood donors, Stethoscope, BP In-strument, ice boxes, blood grouping reagents, plains & citrated vials, glass slides, blood bags, deep freezer and others.The facility is also in need of furnishings including steel almirah, shelves, ta-bles and others.

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