LARKANA, Aug 20: Of 72 blood banks and laboratories operating in the district, not one is registered, increasing the risk of spread of blood-borne diseases, reveale a survey conducted by district health officials.

Five laboratories - Ali Blood Bank, Hina Laboratory and Blood Bank, Larkana Blood Bank and Exchange Centre, Iqra Blood Bank and Exchange Centre, and Shahbaz Blood Bank - did not meet the Safe Blood Transfusion Authority criteria, SBTA district focal person Dr Farooqur Rehman Soomro said.

Only three blood banks and laboratories of the Chandka Medical College Hospital were found fit to operate, cases of which had been sent to the SBTA for approval and registration, he said.

EDO (health) Dr Abdul Wahab Wadho, acting on his reports, had issued notices to the above five laboratories to immediately close down, but they remained functional, Mr Soomro regretted.

Responding to the SBTA call for registration, only 30 laboratories submitted a bond, saying that they did not practice blood transfusion and blood screening, which seemed quite impossible, he said and added that the remaining 34 laboratories did not even bother to reply.

It was shocking that only eight pathologists were available in the district but 74 laboratories were being run, he said. A meeting held in Karachi in the first week of July under the chairmanship of director-general (health) Dr Hussain Bakhsh Memon had categorically said that unregistered laboratories must be closed after the deadline, he said.