Bhubaneswar: Some staffers at the Central Red Cross Blood Bank in Cuttack are allegedly fleecing the hapless patients by taking Rs 1,500 for a unit (525ml) of blood.
Abinash Nayak of Banarpal in Angul has lodged a complaint with the Red Cross authorities accusing the blood bank officials of fleecing him. The blood bank at Mangalabag in Cuttack is the only blood bank under the Red Cross society.
According to sources, the father of complainant sustained severe injuries in a road mishap recently. He was later rushed to Angul District Headquarters Hospital (DHH). Subsequently, the doctors at DHH referred the patient to Cuttack for better treatment.
The doctors at a private hospital, where his father was undergoing treatment, asked Abinash to collect blood from some blood bank as his father needed urgent administration of the same late March 20 night. Abinash requested the blood bank staff on duty to provide him a unit of O+ blood. The staff allegedly asked him to pay Rs 2,000. Following repeated pleadings, the staff agreed to give blood packet by taking Rs 1,500 per unit.
Following his complaint, the blood bank staff pleaded guilty and returned the money he had taken from Abinash.
The victim told Orissa POST, “Some other staffers at the blood bank told me that a handful of them have been cheating the hapless people every day but the authorities are yet to take any action against them.”
Sources in the oldest blood bank of the state revealed that many staffers have been regularly fleecing the relatives of patients for blood. Some complained to have been charged as much as Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per unit.
As per rule, the blood bank charges Rs 410 for the requisitions of blood received from private hospitals while it is free of cost for the patients getting treated at government owned hospitals.
Binayak Prusti, the director of the blood bank, has stated that an inquiry has been ordered and actions will follow upon receiving the report.
Gyan Ranjan Mohapatra, OP