Meghalaya government not keen on setting up own plasma bank: Health minister

Newmai News Network
Shillong | August 24 

The Meghalaya government is not keen in setting up its own plasma bank but is willing to extend all support to NEIGRIHMS, which is working towards establishing a plasma bank in the medical institute.

 “We have discussed the issue of the plasma bank and we are not keen to have our own bank at the moment,” said Health Minister, Alexander Laloo Hek, who also made it clear that the State government will provide all the required help and support to NEIGRIHMS to make the plasma bank there functional.

On the other hand, the NEIGRIHMS authorities are faced with an obstacle as the engineers from Guwahati have not been able to come to the institute for carrying out the installation process of the machine required for the plasma bank. They have also written to the state government earlier, to make special travel arrangements for the engineer to come to Shillong and install the machine.

When asked about this, Hek said that NEIGRIHMS had written to the state government on the issue. He also said that if NEIGRIHMS applies through proper channels, the government will allow their technical experts to come provided they adhere to all the laid down protocols.

Speaking about the notification from the centre on ‘Unlock-3’ directing the Chief Secretaries not to restrict inter-state and intra-state movement of goods and people, the Health Minister said that the matter would be discussed.

He however observed that life has to go on and the stringent measures will make it difficult for people to earn their livelihood.