Abu Sazzad :
The Mobile court of Rapid Action Battalion [RAB] on Sunday raided two blood banks in the city’s Panthapath and Kolabagan and arrested three persons in connection with their involvement with contaminated blood.
The arrested persons were identified as Nurun Nahar, Shafiqul Islam and Zahangir. RAB also fined Tk 85,000 from the blood banks namely Alif and The Diagnosis.
There are widespread allegations of selling contaminated blood by many blood banks in capital Dhaka and elsewhere across the country as they collect those mainly from drug addicts and professional donors, sources said.
Some unscrupulous groups in the name of having blood bank are doing brisk business by selling the bloods to the patients for transfusion resulting further more health hazards.
The sources alleged that the blood provided by these substandard blood banks is mostly unsafe and contaminated with various germs, and infusion of such blood often turns fatal for the patients.
In this backdrop, the government has recently taken preventive measures to shut down all the substandard blood banks including unlicensed ones and those do not have any license.
A special team of the Health Ministry recently conducted raids in Dhaka and other districts and closed some 11 so-called blood banks.
Meanwhile, Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammed Nasim on Saturday called upon the law-enforcement agencies to take necessary action in this regard. He came up with the order while presiding over a meeting on ‘Safe Blood Transfusion Activities’ at the Secretariat.
“If blood transfusion is done without taking necessary precaution, it can put the lives of the people in danger. Some organizations are making quick bucks from the blood business without maintaining minimum standard,” he said.
The health minister also warned to close down illegal blood banks to ensure safe and healthy life for the people.
