A well organised Blood Transfusion Service (BTS) is a vital component of any health care delivery system. An integrated strategy for Blood Safety is required for elimination of transfusion transmitted infections and for provision of safe and adequate blood transfusion services to the people. The main component of an integrated strategy include collection of blood only from voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors, screening for all transfusion transmitted infections and reduction of unnecessary transfusion.

The Blood Transfusion Service in the country is highly decentralised and lacks many vital resources like manpower, adequate infrastructure and financial base. The main issue, which plagues blood banking system in the country, is fragmented management. The standards vary from State to State, cities to cities and centre to centre in the same city. In spite of hospital based system, many large hospitals and nursing homes do not have their own blood banks and this has led to proliferation of stand-alone private blood banks.

The blood component production/availability and utilisation is extremely limited. There is shortage of trained health-care professionals in the field of transfusion medicine.

For quality, safety and efficacy of blood and blood products, well-equipped blood centres with adequate infrastructure and trained manpower is an essential requirement. For effective clinical use of blood, it is necessary to train clinical staff. To attain maximum safety, the requirements of good manufacturing practices and implementation of quality system moving towards total quality management, have posed a challenge to the organisation and management of blood transfusion service.

Thus, a need for modification and change in the blood transfusion service has necessitated formulation of a National Blood Policy and development of a National Blood Programme which will also ensure implementation of the directives of Supreme Court of India - 1996.

For More Details...

The basic objectives of Government’s Policy relating to the drugs and pharmaceutical sector were enumerated in the Drug Policy of 1986. These basic objectives still remain largely valid. However, the drug and pharmaceutical industry in the country today faces new challenges on account of liberalization of the Indian economy, the globalization of the world economy and on account of new obligations undertaken by India under the WTO Agreements. These challenges require a change in emphasis in the current pharmaceutical policy and the need for new initiatives beyond those enumerated in the Drug Policy 1986, as modified in 1994, so that policy inputs are directed more towards promoting accelerated growth of the pharmaceutical industry and towards making it more internationally competitive. The need for radically improving the policy framework for knowledge-based industry has also been acknowledged by the Government. The Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Trade and Industry has made important recommendations regarding knowledge-based industry. The pharmaceutical industry has been identified as one of the most important knowledge based industries in which India has a comparative advantage.

For More Details...

For the first time after the country became Independent, the Government of India is proposing the formulation of a National Policy on Scheduled Tribes.

The policy seeks to bring Scheduled Tribes into the mainstream of society through a multi-pronged approach for their all-round development without disturbing their distinct culture.

There are 67.8 million Scheduled Tribe people, constituting 8.08 per cent of India’s population. There are 698 Scheduled Tribes spread all over the country barring States and Union Territories like Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Pondicherry and Punjab. Orissa has the largest number – 68--of Scheduled Tribes.

The National Youth Policy, 2003 reiterates the commitment of the entire nation to the composite and all-round development of the young sons and daughters of India and seeks to establish an All-India perspective to fulfill their legitimate aspirations so that they are all strong of heart and strong of body and mind in successfully accomplishing the challenging tasks of national reconstruction and social changes that lie ahead.

The earlier National Youth Policy was formulated in 1988. The socio-economic conditions in the country have since undergone a significant change and have been shaped by wide-ranging technological advancement. The National Youth Policy - 2003 is designed to galvanize the youth to rise up to the new challenges, keeping in view the global scenario, and aims at motivating them to be active and committed participants in the exciting task of National Development.

Recognizing the importance of Health in the process of economic and social development and improving the quality of life of our citizens, the Government of India has resolved to launch the National Rural Health Mission to carry out necessary architectural correction in the basic health care delivery system. The Mission adopts a synergistic approach by relating health to determinants of good health viz. segments of nutrition, sanitation, hygiene and safe drinking water. It also aims at mainstreaming the Indian systems of medicine to facilitate health care. The Plan of Action includes increasing public expenditure on health, reducing regional imbalance in health infrastructure, pooling resources, integration of organizational structures, optimization of health manpower, decentralization and district management of health programmes, community participation and ownership of assets, induction of management and financial personnel into district health system, and operationalizing community health centers into functional hospitals meeting Indian Public Health Standards in each Block of the Country. The Goal of the Mission is to improve the availability of and access to quality health care by people, especially for those residing in rural areas, the poor, women and children.

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) under the overall umbrella of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is being proposed by way of modifying the existing National Maternity Bene.t Scheme (NMBS). While NMBS is linked to provision of better diet for pregnant women from BPL families, JSY integrates the cash assistance with antenatal care during the pregnancy period, institutional care during delivery and immediate post-partum period in a health centre by establishing a system of coordinated care by .eld level health worker. The JSY would be a 100% centrally sponsored scheme and is aimed:

All pregnant women belonging to the below poverty line (BPL) households and it is targeted at