Unusual haste to sell blood plasma raises eyebrows

BHUBANESWAR: The state government's haste to "sell" plasma, a component of blood, to a private company has given rise to several questions.
Though health secretary P K Mohapatra has defended the decision taken in March-April on the pretext that the "surplus" plasma would have otherwise gone waste, the timing of the decision has raised doubts in the minds of certain people."Some plasma going waste is nothing new. It is surprising the officials discovered it when the model code of conduct for elections was in force. They could have waited for a few more days," said a doctor, preferring anonymity.
By the government's version it disposed over 4,000 units of plasma in 2012-13 as biomedical waste. "If it was serious to use the plasma, it could have undertaken awareness drives among doctors so that they prescribe plasma to needy patients instead of whole blood. More deep fridge refrigerators (minus 80 degree) should be purchased so that more plasma can be stored for long," said another doctor, who was earlier associated with State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC).
What is more intriguing is that health minister Damodar Rout, by his own admission, was "kept in dark" about the decision. The officials decided to sell the plasma to a particular company without inviting tenders although there are multiple players dealing in plasma protein business, official sources said.
Open tender could have earned the government better price. While the state government is selling each litre of plasma at Rs 1,000, the private company buying the plasma is extracting its constituent proteins such as albumin, factor VIII, fibrinogen, factor IX and immunoglobulin for manufacturing various costly medical products, making huge profits. "On what basis the price was fixed defies all logic," said a doctor.
According to Marketing Research Bureau, an independent data collection and market research firm specializing in blood and plasma derived products, the global market size of blood plasma products is around $11.7 billion. The MRB estimated $1.7B is sold in Asia, including China and India.
Dr Kishor Chandra Behera, Consultant, SBTC, justified the government move. "Since now we have an option to sell, I don't think there was anything wrong to sell the excess plasma to a private party. Those nearing expiry dates were given to the company. Moreover, the decision was a stop-gap arrangement for the limited period till the model code of conduct is in force after which the government would take a long-term policy decision," he said. Director, SBTC, Rajalaxmi Mohanty, declined to comment.