KARACHI, Dec 21: The Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority (SBTA) on Thursday registered 26 more blood banks at its year-end meeting presided over by the provincial health secretary.

“The meeting decided to register the 26 blood banks as all of them are functioning in accordance with our criteria based on WHO standards,” Dr Zahid Ansari, Secretary SBTA, told Dawn.

The meeting was attended by senior health department officials, representatives from private labs, pathologists from Hyderabad, Larkana, Nawabshah and Sukkur and a representative of the Pakistan Blood Banks Association.

With the approval of 26 more blood banks, the total number of registered blood banks has risen to 83.

“We had registered 57 blood banks in the beginning of this year, now their number has risen to 83 which clearly shows that Sindh is far ahead of other provinces in registering blood banks,” Dr Ansari said.

The newly registered institutions include 10 each from public and private sector whereas the remaining six belong to NGOs. The number of the registered public sector blood banks now stands at 26 and that of private sector at 37.

Among them, nine are functioning in Karachi (including the one at Lyari General Hospital) and three in Hyderabad. Those being run by the civil hospitals of Thatta, Badin, Dadu, Sanghar, Jacobabad, Mithi (Tharparkar), Khairpur, Hyderabad, Larkana, Mirpurkhas and Nawabshah districts and the Taluka Hospital Dighri have also been registered. Besides, one lab each in Badin and Dadu districts in private sector has been registered.

Dr Ansari said although registered, these blood banks would remain under a constant watch to ensure they did not defy standards.