West Bengal's state health department has launched a fresh round of inspections targeting private blood banks across the state, following a series of black-marketing incidents involving blood and plasma that have surfaced in multiple districts. The move comes as authorities piece together a pattern of large-scale irregularities, including a single blood bank in Beliaghata, Kolkata, that reportedly conducted 35 blood donation camps in one day and collected 1,600 units of blood — far beyond any capacity it could screen or store.

What Triggered the Inspections

Officials from the state health department flagged the Beliaghata-based private blood bank after its single-day collection figures drew suspicion. When inspectors visited the facility, they found it lacked the infrastructure to either screen or preserve the volume of blood it had collected.

'Neither the entity had the requisite infrastructure to conduct the screening nor the facilities to preserve the collected blood. There comes the question of where this huge quantity of blood collected on a single day is gone. Surely, the possibilities of selling that blood at premium prices outside cannot be ruled out,' a state health department official said.

A further irregularity emerged during the investigation: instead of qualified doctors, medical students from a state-run medical college and hospital were reportedly deployed to examine donors at these camps — a practice officials confirmed is against the rules.

What the Inspections Will Cover

The health department has said inspections will assess whether private blood banks possess the requisite infrastructure for screening and preserving collected blood, and whether that infrastructure is proportionate to the volume of blood they are collecting through donation camps. The intent, officials explained, is to establish a direct audit trail between collection capacity and actual blood units gathered.

State Health Minister Dr Saradwat Mukherjee, himself a practising medical professional, warned that collecting blood beyond a bank's processing capacity also risks compromising the quality of that blood — potentially rendering it unusable and creating wastage. 'A detailed investigation on this menace is on. Whoever is behind such rackets will be identified and booked per the legal system,' he said.

Arrests and Court Directives

The inspections are not taking place in isolation. On Tuesday, the West Bengal Police's anti-corruption wing arrested three laboratory technicians attached to the state-run Panskura Super Speciality Hospital in East Midnapore district on charges of black-marketing blood.

Earlier this month, the Calcutta High Court directed the state health department to expedite its ongoing probe against 11 private blood banks accused of severe irregularities — including illegally selling blood and plasma to buyers in other states. The health department had already imposed a ban on these 11 banks from conducting donation camps anywhere in West Bengal until further orders.

One of the 11 banks challenged the ban in the Calcutta High Court. The matter came before a bench of Justice Krishna Rao, who declined to interfere with the ongoing probe but set a deadline for the department to complete its investigation.

The Broader Pattern

This is not an isolated episode. Reports of blood black-marketing have emerged from multiple corners of West Bengal, suggesting what authorities now describe as an organised racket. The combination of mass donation camps, under-equipped storage facilities, and the use of unqualified personnel points to a systemic exploitation of a public health resource. Notably, this is the first time the state has moved to inspect the infrastructure of private blood banks as a category, rather than responding to individual complaints.

With the Calcutta High Court monitoring the probe and police arrests already made, pressure on the health department to deliver results — and fast — is mounting.