Medindia interviewed Dr. P. Srinivasan MD, Chairman and Managing Trustee of Jeevan Blood Bank and Research Center and Jeevan Stem Cell Center. Jeevan Blood Bank is a non-profit community blood bank which was started in Chennai, India on 24^th September 1995, aiming “to provide on demand, safe blood and blood components collected from non-remunerated voluntary blood donors (NRVBD) using appropriate international standards.” Apart from being one of the finest blood banks in India with total commitment to ensure sterility, viability, quantity, quality and safety of blood and blood components, Jeevan Blood Bank continues to provide services free of any charge to organizations like Cancer Institute in Adyar, Tanker Foundation, Children’s' hospital, Egmore to help treat children and adults with cancers, thalassemia and prolonged kidney disease.

Ques. Who can and cannot be a blood donor?

Ans. Any healthy adult with a clean medical history between 18 years and 60 years of age weighing more than 45 kgs can donate blood. The person must have a hemoglobin count of 12.5 g/dl and the blood pressure should be minimum 110 / 70 mmHg and maximum - 180 / 100 mmHg.

Blood donation will be collected only after a temporary deferral period from people who have had malaria, typhoid, jaundice, TB, or after surgeries, or during medication or from those under the influence of alcohol and such conditions.

People who have tested positive for Hepatitis B & C or HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, malignancy (cancer), drug abuse and who have taken growth hormone injections are permanently disqualified from donating blood.


Dr.Srinivasan in the British 10km Charity Run for Jeevan Blood Bank
Ques. Is blood donation generally on paid or voluntary basis?

Ans. A landmark Supreme Court judgment on January 1, 1996 banned paid blood donation in principle, but possibly there are many small centers where paid blood donation still thrives on the sly.

The first and the best type of blood donation preferred is the non-remunerated voluntary blood donation prompted by the donors’ purely altruistic motives. This kind of donation guarantees the highest level of safety in the procured blood.

The second layer of blood donation covers blood donated by family members and friends of patients. Doctors and donors work under pressure in this category to make blood available on an emergency and chances are that some information is deliberately or inadvertently withheld by the donor in the pre-donation evaluation.

The third category is Replacement donation done in most hospitals where, though there is a stock of blood – it has become customary for hospitals to ask patients to procure blood which is stocked in the hospitals for another patient at a later date.

Ques. You were previously heading a center that provided excellent lab services. What drew you to Blood banking? 

Ans. I started a Blood Bank when I realized that people who needed blood were running from pillar to post in a time consuming and frustrating exercise to procure blood, the safety of which was sometimes compromised. In 1995 our lab services detected that a large number of people tested positive for Hepatitis Band C. My colleague Dr. Saranya Narayan and I decided to investigate and found that more than 70% of those who had contracted Hepatitis B and C had received blood transfusion for coronary disease.

Similarly, a one year-old child tested positive for HIV in our lab and the angry father revealed that his wife tested positive for HIV after receiving a blood transfusion and died delivering the child that carried on the fatal infection.

On December 24, 1995, a railway employee from Rajkot who had admitted his wife in Railway hospital in Chennai was frantically searching for blood to save his wife. An autorickshaw driver who had a list of donors took him around Chennai and luckily they chanced upon where we were providing lab services. Notable film producer and philanthropist AVM Saravanan who is a ham enthusiast immediately arranged for 3 reliable blood donors through his ham network.

I am a regular blood donor myself and a press friend of mine once informed me of a freedom fighter with aneurysm of the aorta who needed blood urgently and I rushed a to a blood Center and offered blood without revealing my identity as a doctor. There I saw first hand the absolutely rude and callous manner in which blood donors—even first time donors were treated by the blood center’s personnel! The desperate need for blood in India and the gross inefficiency with which blood is collected and stored and the crying need to streamline this noble service finally hit me hard. What followed was a conscious decision to give up my lab services and devote my full time to Jeevan (meaning Life) a community non profit blood bank, research center and subsequently a Stem Cell Bank. There has been no looking bank ever since.

Ques. How do you rate the blood banks in our country? Are they generally safe and do they all follow similar standards of screening and storage?

Ans. The drug controller general of India works as the regulatory body to monitor blood donation services currently in India. Quality in blood transfusion services (BTS) is an important concern for all health care professionals. We cannot have blood units of high and low quality. With the AIDS outbreak in the eighties and the dreaded ramifications of transfusion associated infections (TTI), especially HIV, Transfusion Medicine gained greater importance in medical community and the quality in blood transfusion services has increased ever since. Following initiatives taken by National Aids Control Organization (NACO) and State Blood Transfusion Councils, prospects of proper screening and storing of blood are looking bright.

That said, there are currently 2455 blood banks/centers in India and the number is too large and raises questions regarding the quality of blood procured and stored in many of them. In fact in blood banks with less than 3000 donations, the safety of the blood is questionable. The need of the hour is to centralize most of the operations and have fewer and more efficient blood banks.

Ques. What kind of screening is done by the blood banks in India?

Ans. It is mandatory for all blood banks to collect blood donations only from healthy, volunteers. At Jeevan Blood Bank all donors are subjected to a complete pre-donation evaluation. Prior to donation, donor blood is tested for ABO group (blood type) and Rh type (positive or negative).