Planned on a sprawling 10,000 square feet plot in Kharghar, the SBTC has called for entries from architects to design and create the set-up which “should be the best in the country in terms of training.”

To be built at the cost of Rs 2 crore, the centre will have facilities for hands-on scientific training, have state-of-the-art laboratories, residential and recreational facilities, while ensuring “quality blood transfusion services.” The centre will use latest blood transfusion technology, part of an effort to try and avoid human error.

“It is only when you have achieved a level of adequacy in the stock of blood in the banks can you think of other areas. We now have over 80 per cent blood collection,” says Sanjay Jadhav, assistant director, SBTC. “It requires rather little money but great vision. We will be offering over a dozen training modules in various aspects of blood transfusion.”

In response to the advertisement published on January 2 by the SBTC inviting entries from architects, 62 architects have already approached them. SBTC had called for entries from architects with at least five years experience in building projects costing Rs 2 crore or more for building a modern automatic blood transfusion centre at Kharghar.

In a competition, the winning architect would be awarded a prize of Rs 50,000 for the best. The call for entries is on till January 31.

One of the key elements in the training will also be managing blood transfusions in times of disaster. It will teach blood crisis management by maintaining detailed data of blood donors and map them geographically so that blood banks know exactly which donors can quickly reach donation sites during emergencies.

With 290 blood banks in the state, Maharashtra has the largest number of blood banks in the country. Of these, 73 are under the modernisation programme of National Aids Control Organisation (NACO). Maharashtra has 20 lakh donor base and the blood banks are being connected with the 400 peripheral centres.

“We are trying to ensure maximum use of component, uniformity of blood transfusion procedure, establishing standards of quality and upgrading the knowledge of people in the field,” says Jadhav.

The training course will also have a module to train blood banks’ staff to separate blood components to maximise the usage of available blood. Often, patients might require only one component of blood but they go for an entire unit, such as when only plasma is needed for dealing with a burn victim.

“As of now, more than 45 per cent of the blood that we collect is processed. We need to raise it to 60-70 per cent,” said Jadhav.

There is a plan to have comprehensive training for screening blood for HIV1 and HIV2, malaria and venereal diseases. The training courses will be residential to allow students to spend enough time getting hands-on training on various machines, he added.

The modules will also train blood bank personnel in bio-safety measures that protect them from potential on-the-job infections. The training will also focus on donor motivation and organising blood dona-tion camps.

“Every blood bank should have a calendar of events for the next year so that collecting of blood does not happen in response only to a sudden need for blood,” says Jadhav. “If you look abroad, they have next year’s schedule with them right now. They even have alternate plans ready in case one of the camps does not take place. We are still making weekly and monthly plans.”

Last year, the state’s banks collected 9,70,000 units of blood through some 12,000 donation camps. This is over the 9,68,000 units target set for the year 2012 under the recently launched National Aids Control Programme - III.