Frequently Asked Questions

Blood must not be donated if a person is suffering from any of these conditions:

• Cold/ fever in the past 1 week
• Under treatment with antibiotics or any other medication
• Cardiac problems, hypertension, epilepsy, diabetes (on insulin therapy), history of cancer, chronic kidney or liver disease, bleeding tendencies, venereal disease
• Major surgery in the last 6 months or minor surgery in the past 3 months
• Jaundice or hepatitis or positivity for Hepatitis B or C viruses
• Tooth extraction less than 3 days back or dental surgery less than 1 month back
• Fainting attacks during the last donation
• On therapy with regular blood transfusions
• Sharing needles to inject drugs/ having history of drug addiction
• Sexual relations with different partners or with a high risk individual
• Been tested positive for antibodies to HIV
• Any endocrinal problem
• Females should not donate blood during pregnancy. They can donate after 6 months following delivery and when they are not breast feeding
• Females should not donate blood if they are having heavy menstrual flow or menstrual cramps
• Miscarriage in the last 6 months

Some diseases can be transmitted through blood transfusion. Therefore, all donated blood is screened for transfusion transmissible diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis and Malaria. Even with testing, sometimes infections are not detected, although the rate of detection is extremely good with better methods of testing (e.g. NAT).

It is safe to donate blood once in every three months.

Since blood contains iron (which is essential for making new red blood cells), donating blood more often than every 3 months causes the body to lose iron faster than it can be made up from iron-containing foods in our diet. As a result the donor could develop iron deficiency anemia, causing him/her to feel weak and tired.

Blood can be a life-saving therapy for patients. One unit of blood can save 4 lives (if it is separated into components). Healthy people should donate blood regularly and voluntarily to overcome shortage of blood for patients. It has been proven worldwide that voluntary donations are the safest of all kinds of donations.

Replacement donations are donations in which the patient is asked to arrange blood for him/herself. If the blood group of the donor and the patient match, the blood is transfused (directed donations). If they do not match, the blood is stocked and a group-match blood is issued (replacement donations). Replacement donations have a higher rate of transfusion transmissible infections than voluntary donations.

Paid donations are highly unsafe because they are usually given by people for ulterior motives (e.g. drug addicts) and have a very high rate of transfusion transmissible infections.

Even the most sophisticated methods of testing available may fail to detect such infections. Therefore, it is important that voluntary donations by anonymous donors, for altruistic reasons are promoted.

The likelihood of this happening is minimal. You should eat before donating and drink extra fluids, especially after donation.

Giving blood is not painful. You may feel a prick when the needle is inserted, which lasts only a few seconds.

No. It is perfectly healthy to donate blood once every 3 months.

Absolutely not! All equipment used to collect blood are sterile. These items are used once and discarded.

There are four components in blood: red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. Red blood cells supply oxygen to various parts of the body. White blood cells fight against disease or infections. Plasma carries nutrients, clotting factors and enzymes. Platelets help clot the blood to prevent excessive bleeding. Today, doctors transfuse individual blood components based upon the patient’s needs. Major categories of patient needs include: cancer therapy, organ transplants, accident victims and people undergoing elective surgical procedures.

Red cells – 35 days
Platelets - 5 days
Fresh frozen plasma - 1 year

Blood has several components, including red blood cells, platelets and plasma. Donor apheresis is a special type of blood donation in which a specific component, viz. platelets, granulocytes (white cells) plasma or plasma is withdrawn from the donor using a special equipment called as cell separator; the remaining components are returned to the donor's blood circulation. This procedure takes about 90 minutes during which the donor is constantly monitored by trained medical personnel.

Platelet concentrate prepared from one unit of whole blood contains very few platelets. Six to ten such whole-blood derived platelets would be required to supply enough platelets for one patient. However, platelets donated during one apheresis session by one donor are sufficient for one transfusion, thus reducing the chance of transfusion transmitted infections. Patients with cancer or leukemia or with blood disorders benefit immensely from such plateletpheresis. The donor benefits too, since there are no loss of red cells. One can donate apheresis components more frequently than whole blood donation.

Any healthy person who meets the criteria for whole blood donation is eligible for apheresis donation.

Typically only about one hour.

Absolutely yes! You need a license and immediately need to upgrade your blood bank to the minimum standards prescribed by the Authority. Failure to do so will lead to closure of your blood bank and possible criminal charges under the law.

Absolutely yes! You need a license and immediately need to upgrade your blood bank to the minimum standards prescribed by the Authority. Failure to do so will lead to closure of your blood bank and possible criminal charges under the law.

If your laboratory is licensed by the Punjab Healthcare Commission, and is only performing the above mentioned tests you don't need a license.

Absolutely yes! You need a license and immediately need to upgrade your blood bank to our minimum criteria. Failure to do so will lead to closure of your facility and possible criminal charges under the law.

If the blood you transfuse is from another licensed blood bank you don't need a license from the Punjab Blood Transfusion Authority. You are, however, reminded that blood banking is an essential service that should be available in all hospitals. Additionally, please refer to the Punjab Healthcare Commission's guidelines on whether your institution needs to have its own blood bank.

There are 3 steps involved in getting a license:

Registration
First of all, you must get your blood bank registered with the Punjab Blood Transfusion Authority. The registration form can be downloaded from the website or can also be obtained from our office. The registration fee is a one-time fee of Rs 5500. Upon registration, the Authority will provide you with copies of the minimum standards and template standard operating procedures (SOPs) prescribed by the Authority.
After we receive your registration form and other required documents we will review them and see if your blood bank meets the minimum requirements for getting a license. If your blood bank does not meet the minimum licensing requirements your blood bank will be asked to immediately conform to the minimum licensing standards and until such time to halt all blood banking activities.

Inspection
After a review of your registration form and supporting documents, if we find that your blood bank meets the minimum licensing requirements, we will arrange an inspection of your blood bank. You will be informed about the date and time of the inspection. The licensing inspection is usually conducted within 30 days of the registration. During this time period you are expected to correct any deficiencies in your blood bank and to upgrade it to the standards prescribed by the Authority.

Licensing
After the inspection if the authority finds that your blood bank meets the minimum requirements for licensing, you will be given a license for a period of 1 year. If not, we will send you a list of observations which are needed to be addressed within 15-30 days by you or else your blood bank will be closed down. You will be expected to send your compliance report in accordance with the observations/ deficiencies notified by the Authority within 15-30 days. Following reception of the compliance report, the authority will decide whether another inspection of your blood bank is needed or not.

If your license is about to expire, you are expected to contact the Authority for renewal of the license. A renewal fee of Rs 1000 has to be deposited.

The Authority will not issue a license in the name of anyone other than a qualified MBBS doctor with a valid PMDC registration.

Currently, the Authority will not issue another license if the doctor has already obtained a license for another blood bank.

Making components is although highly recommended but it is not currently included in our minimum criteria for licensing. Although that is likely to change in the near future, so it is highly recommended that your blood bank makes components.