Bhubaneswar: Minister of Health and Family Welfare Naba Kishore Das on Friday inaugurated the ID-NAT Blood Screening System in the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) and SUM Hospital here. The hospital is the first medical institution in Odisha to have the most advanced system to ensure safest possible blood transfusion.
The Individual Donor-Nucleic Acid Testing (ID-NAT) machine is a highly sensitive method of blood screening which would ensure safety for the recipients of blood, the minister said at a function held after the inauguration. It can detect even the lowest traces of viruses like HIV, Hepatitis-B and Hepatitis-C in the blood.
Dr Urmila Mishra, Director, State Blood Transfusion Council, said five mandatory blood tests were done by Blood Banks for HIV, Hepatitis-B, Hepatitis-C, Malaria and VDRL. “It is difficult to screen the virus in the absence of advanced systems as our focus is on blood safety,” she said.
Prof Ashok Kumar Mahapatra, vice-chancellor of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan, Prof Gangadhar Sahoo, Dean, IMS and SUM Hospital, Prof Pusparaj Samantasinhar, Medical Superintendent of IMS and SUM Hospital, Prof Bibhudendu Pati, Head of Department of Transfusion Medicine and Dr Girija Nandini Kanungo, Associate Professor in the Department also spoke.
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