PESHAWAR, Nov 18: Relatives of patients in teaching hospitals have alleged that doctors force them to arrange blood unnecessarily. "Hundreds of bags of blood deposited by relatives of patients remain unused at the blood banks of the hospitals," said a doctor.

He said that in some wards, such as gynaecology and surgery, the doctors routinely advise that at least a pint of blood should be arranges for every hospitalized patient. Most of the blood remained unused, which was sold by the blood banks' staff, he alleged.

A blood bank official at a hospital said about five per cent of the patients in the gynaecology and surgical wards needed blood but the doctors advised it for all of them.

"My wife has been admitted to the gynaecology ward. The doctors advised two pints of blood for her a week ago, but it is yet to be transfused to her," said a man at a hospital.

He said his wife had a negative blood group, which was rare, so he had bought blood from professional donors at Rs3,000 per pint.

The blood bank official said many people insisted that they wanted their blood back but, according to the rules, it could not be done.

"A surgeon advised three pints of blood for my father, who was going to be operated upon for kidney stone. The operation was delayed thrice because we could not arrange the blood," said Sameen Gul from Mardan. Later, he said, he brought several people from his village and collected the blood, but that was not used during the operation.

A doctor said the blood banks 40 pints of blood daily but issued only 10 pints. "The blood left by the people is then sold by the blood bank staff," claimed a technician.

A gynaecologist said the relatives of patients were told to arrange blood as a precautionary measure to meet possible post-operative complications. "If the patient is anaemic, we are bound to arrange blood before the operation," she said.