Raebareli: The Department of Transfusion Medicine and Blood Centre at AIIMS Raebareli inaugurated its Individual Donor Nucleic Acid Testing (ID-NAT) facility and organised a Continuing Medical Education (CME) programme on “Enhancing Blood Safety: Role of NAT in India” in collaboration with the Indian Society of Transfusion Medicine (ISTM).
The facility was inaugurated by the chief guest, Prof. (Dr.) Amita Jain, Executive Director and CEO of AIIMS Raebareli. Prof. (Dr.) Neeraj Kumari, Dean (Academics); Dr Neeraj Srivastava, Additional Medical Superintendent; Colonel Akhilesh Singh, Deputy Director (Administration); and Colonel Upendranath Rai, Financial Adviser, were also present.
Addressing the gathering, Prof. Jain highlighted the importance of Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) in strengthening blood safety. She explained that NAT detects the genetic material of infectious agents, including HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses. This enables infections to be identified at an earlier stage, even when conventional antibody-based tests may fail to detect them. She said the introduction of NAT at AIIMS Raebareli would further enhance the safety of blood and blood components supplied to patients.
Prof. Neeraj Kumari welcomed the initiative and emphasised the importance of adopting advanced technologies to improve the quality and safety of transfusion services.
The CME featured expert lectures by Prof. (Dr.) Ratti Ram Sharma of PGIMER, Chandigarh, and Prof. (Dr.) Preeti Elhence and Prof. (Dr.) Anupam Verma of SGPGIMS, Lucknow.
The sessions covered various aspects of blood safety, including the global and Indian perspectives, currently available technologies for testing transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs) in India, and the evolution of NAT testing in the country.
The programme was organised by the Department of Transfusion Medicine and Blood Centre at AIIMS Raebareli. The organising team included Dr Arunpreet Kaur as Organising Chairperson, Dr Gyaneshwar Patale as Organising Secretary, Dr Tripti Lokhande and Shesh Kumar Bhakt, along with the entire departmental team.
The inauguration of the ID-NAT facility and the CME marked an important step towards strengthening blood safety standards and improving transfusion services at AIIMS Raebareli.
