Basudevpur: After being inaugurated 15 years ago, the blood bank of Bhadrak district’s community health centre here is lying idle and the patients are left to manage all by themselves or be at the almighty’s mercy.
A blood bank was an absolute necessity and so this blood bank was made with the MPLAD funds of the then Rajya Sabha member Manmath Das in 2004. The facility was inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik with much fanfare, but it yielded little result in the last one-and-half decade.
Once it was operational, local people heaved a sigh of relief as their quest for blood — when needed — would be easier than before. But to everyone’s surprise, the facility failed to take care of the needs of the people.
Since the inception, there was no unit of blood stored in the bank and the people of Bhadrak were left to face the same difficulty as they did 15 summers ago. The freezer was also not put to good use till date.
Equipped with the facilities to preserve blood units collected from the district headquarter hospitals or somewhere else, it’s has indeed cut a sorry figure as it never functioned.
Technician Adikanda Dash revealed that the refrigerator of the blood has been lying idle for almost two months due power supply problem.
According to sources, this centre has the capacity to preserve maximum 50 to 60 units of blood, but only six to seven units could be preserved when it was in use. Due to fear of power cuts, more blood couldn’t be stored as there were possibilities of those getting damaged with no power supply, the source added.
The non-functional facility is now a pain for the local people, particularly when accident and deliver cases come. Earlier, they used to rush at this blood bank only to return empty-handed. After facing difficulties aplenty, patients are now forced to go to district headquarters hospital.
If sources are to be believed, there are about 46 thalassemia patients in Basudevpur area and their plight is beyond imagination. “These patients were told the facility would be a great help for them, but that did not happen as they have still been depending on the DHH for treatment,” the source added.
However, social activist Kishore Kumar Mahapatra’s observation is, if the blood bank is made fully functional and blood units are kept in stock, patients can be benefitted costly lives can be saved.
Local people urged the health department to take necessary steps for the facility’s smooth functioning.
When contacted, chief medical officer of Basudevpur CHC, Dr Sushant Kumar Samant, however said that steps would be taken soon to resurrect the facility, but no timeframe was given by him.
PNN
