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Touts try to fool attendants at KGMU, promise blood units without mandatory donation
The King George’s Medical University (KGMU) lodged a police complaint on Friday after its blood bank staff came across attempts of touts to fool attendants by promising
The King George’s Medical University (KGMU) lodged a police complaint on Friday after its blood bank staff came across attempts of touts to fool attendants by promising them blood units without the need of mandatory donation in exchange of money. The touts allegedly gave these attendants papers which carried bogus signatures of blood bank authorities.
The scam came to light when some people approached the MU staff with papers of requisition for blood without the need of donation. The staff said that these papers carried fake signatures of blood bank authorities and the attendants had no clue that they had been fooled.
Barring some exceptional cases, it is compulsory to donate blood in exchange for every unit obtained from a blood bank.
“As several such cases were caught by our staff, we decided to file a police complaint. There may be a racket being operated here,” said Prof Tulika Chandra, head, transfusion medicine. “I received a written complaint from attendants that some middlemen had tried to fool them,” she added.
Prof Chandra said she forwarded the complaint to the proctor’s office from where it was handed over to the police for investigation.
Reportedly, when the staff made inquiries about the bogus signatures, the attendants said that “someone met them on their way to the blood bank and offered them the facility to obtain blood without donation in exchange for money”.
“With such a racket coming to light, we will increase our vigil. Although we believe that no request with such fake signatures was entertained, we will still try to improve our checking mechanism,” said Prof Chandra.
Blood is issued without exchange only in some cases such as for destitute patients, pregnant women or serious patients who do not have donors. There are also a few categories of patients, as defined by the government, who are entitled for blood without exchange and fee.
KGMU issues over 200 units of blood and its components daily.
