Maharashtra government's ambitious 'Blood on Call' scheme, which will ensure that blood is delivered to the needy within 30 minutes of making a call to number 106, will be rolled out in Mumbai and four other districts from August 15.
Blood storage units will be set up at nine places in Vasai Municipal Hospital, Vasai, Bhagwati Hospital in Borivali, ESI Hospital in Kandivali and Mulund, Sub-district hospital in Malwani, V N Desai Hospital in Santacruz, BPT Hospital in Mumbai, Bhabha Hospital in Kurla and Dr Ambedkar Railway Hospital in Byculla.
State-of-the-art modern equipment will be set up at each of the nine units. Permission from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Department has been taken, Health Minister Suresh Shetty said.
Blood supply at these nine units will be for 24 hours. So that the needy persons can benefit within half an hour of the call. These nine units will be provided blood from Sir J J Hospital's blood bank.
Blood will be transported in cold storage boxes fitted on motorcycles which will have blue lights. The technicians travelling on the vehicles will be given special uniforms. Apart from Mumbai, the scheme will be started in Parbhani, Ahmednagar, Amravati and Gadchiroli.
The pilot project was undertaken earlier this year in Satara and Sindhudurg districts.
The entire state would be covered by the scheme named as 'Jeevan Amrut Yojana' by the end of October, Shetty said.
