Govt Sacks Jj Blood Bank Chief Pagare Medical Officer Bhise For Illegal Diversion Of Stock

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Monday announced the termination of services of Dr Hitesh Pagare, the head of the Mahanagar blood bank, which operates from the JJ Hospital premises, for the alleged illegal diversion of 50 blood bags to his own private blood bank in Badlapur. The government is to register a criminal case against him and also bring in a standard operating procedure (SOP) for blood banks across Maharashtra to curb malpractices.

Minister of state for public health Meghana Bordikar made the announcement while responding to a calling attention motion raised by BJP member Chitra Wagh in the legislative council. Wagh said that Dr Pagare, who is working on a contract basis, illegally diverted 50 blood bags of the 188 collected in a blood donation camp to his own Maya Blood Bank in Badlapur. Ajay Bhise, a medical social officer working on a contract basis in the blood bank, was also involved in the matter.

Wagh asked Bordikar why the government had not terminated the services of Dr Pagare and Bhise, and demanded that the government file a criminal case against Dr Pagare and others involved. In response, Bordikar said that after the illegal diversion of the blood stock was discovered, the government held an inquiry and found that Dr Pagare was guilty. “We are terminating his services and Bhise’s,” she said. “A criminal case will be filed against him and others involved.”

The minister said the government had taken serious note of the incident and would prepare a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to strengthen monitoring mechanisms and ensure transparency and accountability and prevent malpractices in blood bank operations across the state.

In the written reply, the government informed the legislative council that the State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) found that 55 units of blood collected through health camps had been illegally diverted to a private blood bank. Considering the expenditure on the blood collection, including the cost of bags and consumables, medical social officer Ajay Bhise, was fined ₹55,000, at the rate of ₹11,000 per blood bag.