‘Mumbai sees 27% rise in donated blood with hepatitis C, syphilis, malaria infections’

While there has been an increase in the amount of blood collected during donation drives in the recent past, the city has also seen a 27% rise in the amount of blood

While there has been an increase in the amount of blood collected during donation drives in the recent past, the city has also seen a 27% rise in the amount of blood infected with hepatitis C, syphilis and malaria in 2018 as compared to 2017. Experts attribute this to inadequate scrutiny by those collecting blood. India is estimated to have six million people infected with hepatitis C, which is curable but has a high mortality rate in India.

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In response to a Right-to-Information (RTI) query filed by Hindustan Times, Mumbai District AIDS Control Society said 23,563 units of blood had been wasted – or, identified as carrying infections following donation – over the past five years. While greater awareness about HIV has led to a fall in the number of new HIV-infected blood donors, new cases of blood infected with hepatitis C, syphilis and malaria have increased from 1,514 in 2017 to 1,918 in 2018.

In 2017, of the 2,90,000 units of blood collected through blood donation drives and camps in Mumbai, 1,107 units were found infected with hepatitis C, 387 with syphilis and 20 with malaria. In 2018, out of 3,10,000 collected blood units, the number of hepatitis C-infected units of blood increased by 10% with 1,330 infected units. The highest number of syphilis-positive units (529) were also recorded in 2018. Fifty-nine units of blood were found to be infected with malaria even though the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation reported a reduction in malaria cases in the city.

According to the State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC), before any blood donation, a counsellor must ask the donor questions and help them fill forms with their personal information. “Depending on the questionnaire submitted by donors, the counsellor rejects the applications for donation. But this is not being followed perfectly,” said Dr Arun Thorat, in-charge of SBTC.

Also, according to Dr. Thorat, government-run blood banks are yet to get the latest technique of ID-NAT (individual donor-nucleic acid test) which can detect infected units missed during other tests. “Despite promising for years, the government has failed to start compulsory NAT test at their blood banks,” said a senior blood officer from King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, Parel.

Activists also blame blood banks for not informing infected patients while officials say donors are difficult to trace if they haven’t given accurate identity proofs. In a meeting held in August, SBTC had advised Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society and the Directorate of Health Services to record the details from donors’ Aadhaar cards.