DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Dec 4: Many laboratories are engaged in selling substandard and drug-affected blood to the needy around the district headquarters teaching hospital and maternity hospital.

These laboratories, most of them run by unqualified people, collect blood from drug addicts on nominal price and sell it on very high cost, showed a survey.

There is no blood bank in Dera Ismail Khan except for a small one functioning in the DHQ hospital which could not meet the requirement.

Many NGOs are providing blood, collected from volunteers, free of charge. The problem with these NGOs is that none of them has a blood bank unit. Thus these NGOs cannot maintain a stock of donations and whenever a demand arises, these NGOs call upon their volunteers who are some time not available, leaving the relatives of the patients with no option but to go to the laboratories.

These laboratories collect blood from drug-affected people against Rs150-Rs200 a bottle and provide the same against Rs1,000-Rs1,500. The blood of rare groups is sold for Rs3,000-Rs5,000 a bottle.