Sion Hospital blood bank gets green signal

“Earlier,it was suggested that the blood bank would be built in the centre of the hospital,thereby disrupting the expansion plans. After reconsideration,the BMC decided that the blood bank will take up only 16 per cent FSI of the entire hospital and the rest will be used for expansion,” said Dr Alok Sharma,head of neurosurgery. Dr Sharma was one of the members of the union formed to protest against the project.

There are some doctors at Sion Hospital who believe the protests delayed the beneficial project. “Having the blood bank in the hospital will be helpful in every way. We have the city’s largest trauma care centre and having this bank within campus will only facilitate our operations,” said a senior faculty member at Sion Hospital. “The money given for the project will phenomenally improve the hospital’s infrastructure.”

This is the second metropolitan blood bank of the city after the state-owned blood bank at JJ hospital. “The city faces an annual shortfall of 85,000 blood units. This state-of-the-art blood bank will help us to deal better with situations like the recent blasts,” said Dr Shantaram Kudalkar,deputy municipal commissioner and in-charge of the project.

“There will be advanced facilities like component separation and plasma fractionation which will be at par with international standards. There will also be courses in bone marrow,stem cell research and training for para medical staff and post graduates in super specialty. Because of these added features,it will be called the Centre of Excellence of Transfusion Medicine,” added Kudalkar.