KARACHI, Oct 8: Senior officials from Sindh Health department in a simultaneous and surprise crackdown on Saturday sealed off 15 blood banks in seven major cities of the province, including those being run in major hospitals.

Sindh Health Minister Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani, addressing a press conference here on Saturday, said the blood banks raided this morning were located in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Nawabshah, Sanghar and Khairpur.

In Karachi only four blood banks, found failing to meet the Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority criterion, were sealed off.

Giving details of the lacunae found in these banks, the health minister said: “the most alarming aspect was the availability of expired blood,” adding that they were even devoid of basic requirement of screening kits.

The blood banks at Samdani Hospital and Patel Hospital in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Darul Sehat in Gulistan-i-Jauhar and the Khan Labs had had no pathologists and the required facilities for proper refrigeration were also not available, the minister said.

Mr Qaimkhani said that most of the banks sealed off in the province were found to be collecting blood from dubious sources, like addicts, at a rate ranging from Rs200 to Rs300 but were selling the blood with absolute impunity at Rs1,800 per point.—APP