New Delhi – In a major decision, India’s drug regulator has directed all blood banks and centers to charge only processing fees for supplying blood units, asserting that “blood is not for sale”.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has capped the processing charges payable to blood centers at Rs 250-1,550 per unit of blood.
The binding order to all states and UTs came after the watchdog’s Drugs Consultative Committee decisively opined in a September meeting that blood centers should levy only processing costs.
The move aims to curb rampant overcharging and exploitation of vulnerable patients who rely on affordable blood transfusions from private hospitals and banks.
In the absence of donations, hospitals were charging astronomical amounts ranging from Rs 3,000-8,000 per blood unit, as per official sources. For rare groups, this cost spiked exponentially.
The DCGI communication stated the committee unanimously agreed that “blood is not for sale, it is only for supply” so only processing fees should apply to blood units.
By restricting charges to fixed processing costs based on blood components, the binding order brings uniformity and prevents arbitrary pricing by centers facing blood shortages.
All drug controllers have been directed to enforce compliance with these guidelines on charges within their jurisdictions applicable to blood storage centers and banks.
Patient groups have welcomed the decisiveness shown by the DCGI in capping blood processing charges. They said this records an important precedent against commercial exploitation of blood.
