Jaipur: Days after a patient died at the city’s SMS Hospital due to a botched blood transfusion, govt has planned new protocols to make blood grouping compulsory for all patients at the time of their admission.The blood grouping will be conducted for all in-patients at the Immunohematology and Transfusion Medicine (IHTM) department in Dhanwantri OPD Block, and the results will be shared with the blood bank. As and when patients require blood, their samples will be sent to the bank, where additional sampling will be done. Before dispensing blood to patients, the blood bank will verify that the blood group matches admission records. Any discrepancy will trigger an alert, preventing incorrect transfusions, officials said.SMS Hospital’s Immunohematology (IH) laboratory, commissioned in 2024 to prevent incorrect blood transfusions, has remained underutilised throughout last year. Following the death of the patient last week, health department and the hospital’s IHTM department have decided to double down on the implementation of the comprehensive blood group verification protocol that was deviced to reduce human errors and improve patient safety.A senior SMS Hospital administrator said, “Currently, not all admitted patients’ samples are sent to the IH lab for blood grouping. Now, we are planning to ensure that all the patients’ samples should be sent for blood grouping as a measure to help prevent wrong blood transfusion.”The administrator said universal blood grouping at admission would require additional funding. “It is estimated that the cost of each blood grouping for the hospital is Rs70, and SMS Hospital has around 2,500 beds. For every admission, Rs70 for blood grouping will be spent,” the official said.This verification system provides dual confirmation. The initial blood typing during admission, followed by secondary testing at the blood centre before crossmatching, ensures complete donor-recipient blood compatibility before transfusion. This procedure aims to eliminate potential errors in sample collection and handling.
New protocols to make blood grouping compulsory at SMS | Jaipur News
