Due to lack of staff, the Blood Transfusion Service Center (Blood Bank) at District Hospital Inaruwa has been closed. Four decades after the establishment of the hospital, the blood bank was brought into operation on May 31 last year.
After a long effort, a blood transfusion center was established in the hospital premises with the financial support of Inaruwa Municipality and Bhokraha Narsingh Rural Municipality and Nepal Red Cross Society Sunsari.
After a year and a half of its operation, the blood transfusion service center was closed, and the patients are in trouble. With more than 400 patients coming to the hospital for treatment every day, the blood bank was put into operation, and the beneficiaries of Koshi, Harinagar, Gadhi, Ramdhuni and Bhokraha Narsingh Rural Municipality along with Sunsari headquarters Inruwa were benefited.
After the closure of the blood bank, patients coming for treatment have to be referred to hospitals in Dharan or Biratnagar due to lack of blood. The hospital administration has said that they have a shortage of staff and the Red Cross has not managed the staff, so it has to be closed.
While establishing the blood bank, it was conducted after a verbal agreement that the hospital would manage the staff and that the staff would be trained by the Red Cross if necessary.
According to the agreement, the employees working in the hospital were assigned to the blood bank. The then medical superintendent Dr. Devraj Ghimire said. The hospital's medical superintendent Dr. Amitabh Thakur said that they do not have skilled manpower for the blood bank and it was closed when the Red Cross did not provide staff. Thakur says that there are 59 posts in
hospital, but only 28 are working. Hospital sources have informed that although the hospital has appointed more than 32 employees as wage earners, they have not been able to recruit for the blood bank.
