Scarcity of blood is one of the major causes for loss of precious lives. Even affluent people find it difficult to procure blood. In such a scenario, provision of safe and quality blood for the poor is almost unimaginable. However Rajkot Voluntary Blood Bank (RVBB) has made this possible and today it is one of the best Blood Banks in India with the latest state of art equipments.
The idea of starting a blood bank in Rajkot came about when the founder brothers Mr. Shashikant Koticha and Mr.Chandrakant Koticha saw a young man almost dying because of inappropriate blood transfusion. Thus RVBB was the first blood bank to be established in 1981 in Saurashtra.
Since its birth in 1981 the journey of excellence continues. RVBB had the privilege to be represented at the National Advisory Committee to prepare standards and operating manuals for blood transfusion services and has also been the first blood bank in India to be accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks, USA. It is noteworthy that RVBB is a ISO 9001:2000 certified blood bank and has long been the model for other upcoming blood banks in our country.
Considering the fact that blood is not manufactured in factories and that every 7 to 8 seconds some needy person requires blood, RVBB took to the world of the latest technology and medical development in 1999, by installing the blood component separation unit. Through this process, a single unit of blood is fractionized into several blood components like plasma, platelets, RCC’s and leukocytes. This process facilitates the judicious and wider scope of the use of donated blood i.e. it can be given as per the patient’s need. Some of the blood components have longer storage life compared to that of whole blood. In the earlier times when one unit could help just one individual today, thanks to the component separation technology; it can now save up to 3 lives!
RVBB has always been a symbol of quality that ensures the availability of safe and quality blood. It follows the stringent guidelines set by the national and international agencies like AABB, NABH, and ISO 9000-2001. Further it conducts external evaluation of products on a regular basis. In addition to this it organizes regular training sessions for its staff and to upgrade their technical knowledge and skills, it conducts Continued Medical Education (CME) programmes. It always strives to give the best to the needy patients by serving them 24 hours a day and 365 days in a year.
In the last 10 years RVBB has witnessed a tremendous growth and is poised to grow further with the changing times with a new state of art building. This is being built to accommodate every possible facility to enrich life of millions of patients who are in need of safe and highest quality of blood. These include:
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Reducing society’s dependence on RVBB (85%) by encouraging Blood Banks in far flung areas of rural Gujarat.
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Establishing a Peripheral STEM cells separation Unit
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Provide support to 20 Blood Storage centers in village locations.
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HLA Cross-matching and Registry: A close HLA match improves the chances for a successful transplant. It also promotes engraftment.
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CD4 Cell Counting: for counting the CD4 cells in HIV positive cases. When the CD4 cells number goes below 200 in patients with HIV then they require to be given anti retroviral treatment so as to prevent other infections like TB candidacies etc.
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NABL Accreditation: This will make RVBB a benchmark for other blood banks. In this accreditation, the main document is on setting of ‘Standards’. We have already started working on this and the process of sensitizing the staff through regular lectures is in progress.
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Cord Blood Banking: The prime objective of the project will be to provide maximum benefit to the needy patients of Gujarat with a facility to preserve the cord blood for their future use.
Over the years it has provided over 3 lac units of blood to thousands of patients in Government, Private and Trust hospitals. The need is ever growing and with over 250 blood donation camps every year and reaching out to the blood donors through the state-of-the-art air conditioned blood collection van, RVBB is making all efforts to ensure that no life is lost for the want of safe and high quality blood. The latest technology and equipments make it possible for RVBB to process the blood as per the highest international standards in blood banking.
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