Open AccessNucleic acid testing: Is it the only answer for safe Blood in India?
Author(s) -
NK Naidu,
Z. S. Bharucha,
Vandana Sonawane,
Imran Ahmed
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
asian journal of transfusion science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.262
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1998-3565
pISSN - 0973-6247
DOI - 10.4103/0973-6247.175423
Subject(s) - medicine , nat , donation , blood donor , blood transfusion , blood donations , transmission (telecommunications) , seroprevalence , family medicine , medical emergency , immunology , serology , antibody , telecommunications , statistics , computer science , economics , economic growth , mathematics
With the implementation of NAT in countries around the world, there is a growing pressure on the transfusion services in India to adopt NAT testing. India has about 2545 licensed Blood Centres. The Transfusion Services in India are fragmented, poorly regulated and the quality standards are poorly implemented. Blood Centres are still dependent on replacement/family donors and in most places laboratory testing for Transfusion transmitted infections is not quality assured, laboratory equipment are not calibrated and maintained, and validation of results is not carried out. Against the current scenario introducing NAT for screening of blood donors in India would pose a challenge.