Hyderabad: A lab technician named Narendra Prasad mixed blood and saline in the government blood bank at Koti Maternity Hospital. When the police and drug inspectors went to arrest him he ran away and is absconding.
Narendra used the blood donated in government hospitals and mixed it with saline in the laboratory. He then attached labels of private blood banks and sold it. A week back, Unni Krishna (name changed), the relative of a patient, procured a 250 ml packet of blood from Narendra. Mr Krishna was introduced to Prasad by a broker outside the Koti Maternity Hospital.
The label on the blood packet was that of Rachita Blood Bank and Narendra convinced him that it was of good quality and he was selling it. When Mr Krishna gave the blood packet to the hospital, the paramedics staff rejected it saying that it was only 150 ml.
An angry Mr Krishna went to the blood bank and created a ruckus stating that he had been cheated. But the blood bank showed him the register and said that they had never sold him the packet.
He then explained that he had purchased it from their agent Narendra Prasad outside Koti Maternity Hospital.
Rachita Blood Bank then complained to the Telangana Blood Bank Association and a manhunt was launched by TBBA who wanted to catch him red-handed.
TBBA president Laxmi Reddy said, “We went to the hospital but he was not there. We then went to his home address in Saroornagar. He was not there too. We found labels of many private blood banks, bills and as well as bags to collect and store the blood.”
Drug control officers are now checking all samples in the government blood bank at Koti.
Superintendent Dr Ratna Kumari has lodged a police complaint against Narendra. She said, “He was working here for two years.”
Along with the lab technician, the in-charge of the blood bank Dr B Nirmala is also being questioned by drug inspectors.
A senior drug control officer on condition of anonymity said, "This cannot be done by an individual. Two to three people are involved. We are trying to identify them."
Officers are investigating how the blood packets were going outside.
Another officer said, “The registry in the government hospital is not up to the mark. It requires to be properly documented and audited from time to time. There are lapses in the system. As a result we do not know how many bottles of blood come in and how many go out."
The drug control officers have asked the TBBA to check how their bill books and labels went out of their office. The role of personnel in both private and public sector blood banks will have to be looked into, the senior officers said.
