India set to integrate rare blood donor registry with e rakt kosh

India set to integrate rare blood donor registry with e rakt kosh

The integration will allow those with rare blood groups to access a centralised system; the challenge is to ensure that the country has a steady, motivated group of donors who stay connected to the blood banks, says the Director of ICMR-NIIH.

In what would be a life, time and cost saving move for people with rare blood groups in India, the Union Health Ministry is looking at integrating the national Rare Donor Registry with the national online platform for blood bank management and blood availability information, e-Rakt Kosh.

The integration will allow those with rare blood groups to access a centralised system developed under the National Health Mission (NHS), providing details of blood banks, blood availability, and blood donation camps across the country. Essentially, it will help people find blood and blood banks, and assist blood banks manage their stock and donors.

“The Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Immunohaematology (ICMR-NIIH), along with four partnering institutes, created a database of 4,000 carefully screened donors tested for over 300 rare blood markers. It helps doctors find rare and specially matched blood quickly. Rare Donor Registry of India (RDRI) platform has been developed to help patients across India,” said Manisha R. Madkaikar, Director, ICMR -NIIH, and Centre for Research, Management and Control of Heamoglobinopathies (CRMCH).

More access

She said the integration project would be taken up soon and offer more access and support to those with rare blood groups.

“The challenge is to ensure that we have a steady, motivated group of donors who stay connected to the blood banks,” she said.

Explaining how this registry for rare blood group helps, Dr. Madkaikar said that this system helped find rare matches as the registry included ultra-rare types such as the Bombay blood group, P-Null, and Rh-null blood group. It also helps ensure safer transfusions where matches are available for patients missing multiple antigens (common in thalassemia and sickle cell) to prevent complications.

“The group has also developed a special blood screening kit tailored for Indian patients and it uses DNA test (multiplex PCR) to quickly identify rare blood types,” Dr. Madkaikar said.

She added that in the past, this registry has transformed nearly impossible searches into life-saving solutions, and with its integration and reach, India could work towards ensuring that no life is lost due to lack of blood.

Working the area of effectively managing haemoglobinopathies, the ICMR-NIIH has developed a point-of-care test to detect life-threatening blood related genetic disorders.

“The Health Technology Assessments (HTA) led by Department of Health Research (DHR) and ICMR-CRMCH and NIIH helped cut the cost of sickle cell diagnostic kits from ₹350 to under ₹50 per test, saving the government nearly ₹1,857 crore,” said a note issued by the ICMR-CRMCH.

“India has developed testing for Haemophilia A and Von Willebrand Disease and now World Federation for Hemophilia has shown interest in procuring these tests for deployment in countries where the disease is prevalent. For India this new rapid, visual card testing device has made testing possible even at primary health centers,” Dr. Madkaikar said .

This upgraded testing is cheaper than what is currently available.

India has about 1.4 lakh haemophilia patients which is the second highest globally after Brazil. Haemophilia is a rare genetic disorder where the blood doesn’t clot properly due to a deficiency in clotting factors.

The technology for the POC test for these conditions was transferred to the Bengaluru-based biotechnology firm Bhat Biotech which commercialised it under the brand name Bio-Scan in August 2023.