Cooper Hospital blood bank suspended for lacking documentation

The hospital did not challenge the suspension and instead made alternative arrangements to ensure that its operations were not affected

Mumbai: Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday suspended the operations of the blood bank at Dr R N Cooper Hospital for two days due to alleged lapses in maintaining proper documentation.

Cooper Hospital did not challenge the suspension and instead made alternative arrangements to ensure that its operations were not affected (HT Photo)

The hospital did not challenge the suspension and instead made alternative arrangements to ensure that its operations were not affected. “The hospital needed about 10 units of blood for its regular operations, which were managed from its sister facility, the HBT Trauma Care Hospital in Jogeshwari,” said an official familiar with the developments.

According to the FDA, an inspection found several violations, including the absence of an approved registered nurse and a medical social worker at the blood bank. Donor selection forms were also found to be incomplete, with several missing donors’ names and addresses.

The centre had also failed to maintain updated equipment logbooks for its ELISA reader, ELISA washer and blood component separation centrifuge.

In addition, details of a blood donation camp held in August had not been entered in the centre’s master register, as required. The apheresis machine was also found to be non-functional during the FDA’s annual routine inspection.

“If our action inconveniences people, it is unavoidable. As per existing provisions, we have only two options for violators—suspending or cancelling their licences. There is no middle ground for provisions like adjudications, issuing notices seeking compliance, or imposing penalties. These are the only regulatory actions that we have. Besides, it is the responsibility of the blood centres to make alternative arrangements,” said an FDA official.

FDA commissioner Tukaram Mundhe defended the action, saying that maintaining records was critical for traceability of blood stocks. “The quality of the blood is also determined by where the blood has been received, and tracing that is important,” said Mundhe.

Apart from Cooper Hospital, two private blood banks have also been suspended for various violations: Samarpan Blood Centre in Pant Nagar, Ghatkopar, and Anviksha Blood Centre, managed by the Deepak Foundation, on MG Road, Ghatkopar. Both have been suspended for 11 days, from October 28 to November 7.

Earlier in October, blood banks at three prominent public hospitals—St George’s Hospital, BYL Nair Hospital and JJ Hospital—had also faced suspension on similar grounds. They managed to avert the action by appealing to the state government.

Between April and October 2026, the FDA suspended the licences of 37 blood storage centres and cancelled those of 13 others across Maharashtra. During the same period, it inspected 190 blood centres and 219 blood storage centres across the state.