*RTI replies should be seen as tool to improve governance
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 20: Obse-rving that the present system of blood collection and transfusion in Jammu and Kashmir is not as effective and timely to save human life as is necessary, the Chief Information Commissioner of the State, G R Sufi has directed the Government to devise a mechanism of interconnecting all the blood banks of the State into a single network so that people don’t run from pillar to post to get blood in case of emergencies, which otherwise is a regular phenomenon in this State.
The Commission has also directed that an expert panel of concerned medical authorities be constituted which shall in detail examine the issue and put up the system in place keeping in view the advantages of e-blood banks within a period of one month.
These significant directions have been passed in an RTI application filed on February 20, 2014 by one Deepak Sharma, who was denied information relating to this vital aspect by the then Public Information Officer (PIO) of the Health and Medical Education Department during the tenure of previous regime. The basis of this RTI application was information earlier provided by the then Government whereby it was mentioned that a total of 1938 units of blood was wasted/discarded in the Government Medical College Jammu and SMGS Hospital in three years.
During the course of hearing before the State Information Commission, the Chief Information Comm-issioner expressed anguish that the information which relates to human safety and preservation of human life has not been disclosed on time, which shows the apathy and least concern of the concerned responsible officers towards the issue.
The Commission was informed by the complainant about the problems in blood collection management and distribution in absence of transparency. It was also stated before the Commission that many a times it has been seen that the patients in critical conditions after travelling a long distance on reaching referred hospitals are informed that particular blood group is not available in that hospital and hence causes grave risk to the lives of the patients.
The necessity of framing e-blood banking system to ensure effective management of collection and distribution of blood and its components was highlighted on the ground that Jammu and Kashmir regularly deals with militancy, cross border firing related incidents and because of its demography and hilly roads, it is more prone to road accidents and natural disasters. It was also submitted before the Commission that at present there is no transparency and accountability in the management and distribution of blood and the authentic information regarding availability and transfusion of blood is not forthcoming.
Director Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and Assistant Professor, Blood Transfusion Services, GMC Jammu in their detailed written presentation on the blood bank management information system informed the Commission that e-blood bank, if started, would aim for acquisition, validation, storage and circulation of various live data and information will be available electronically regarding blood donations and transfusion services safety, accessibility and availability. “This is an effective management tool for both individual blood banks and multiple blood banks under a single organization/authority by interconnecting all into single network and managing through a centralized database”, they further said.
The Chief Information Commissioner, while going through the e-blood bank facility of Odisha observed that it provides information about location of particular blood group available district wise and the quantity of stock. Even Director SKIMS submitted that Odisha model is running successfully and there cannot be much financial implications if implemented in Jammu and Kashmir. He, however, also referred certain difficulties which may crop in implementing the system.
After detailed exercise, the Chief Information Commis-sioner has observed, “it is an admitted fact that the present system of blood collection and transfusion is not as effective and timely to save human life as is necessary”, adding “there are instances which show that because of several reasons even the donation of blood with good intentions does not yield the intended results because of wastage in the process of preservation and collecting the blood and non timely blood transfusion”.
“There are number of cases where the accident hit people succumb to injuries while being shifted to hospitals which contain the needed blood group. Cases have been reported where in the immediate vicinity the hospitals, dispensaries and health centres refuse to give the blood transfusion to a dying patient and the authorities were also unaware which hospital or health centre in immediate vicinity or other places do contain such required blood group”, the Chief Information Commissioner said.
The Commission has requested the Secretary Health of the State to give an immediate thought to the recommendations of experts like Director SKIMS and to establish a blood bank on the same pattern as has been done in Odisha. “An expert panel of concerned medical authorities be constituted which will in detail examine the issue and put up the system in place keeping in view the advantages of such e-blood banks and also avoid any of the disadvantages”, the CIC said.
The Commission, while exercising its powers under Section 16(8)(a) directed the public authority to devise a system which would provide access to information seekers for knowing where the required blood group will be available in case of emergency or otherwise. “Section 16 of the J&K State RTI Act, 2009 makes it mandatory for the public authorities to adhere to the recommendations and directions given by the J&K State Information Commission to make available the information in a particular form as and when required”, the CIC said and sought compliance report from the Commissioner /Secretary to Government, Health & Medical Education Department within a month from the receipt of this order.
Simultaneously, the Commission directed the Commissioner/ Secretary to direct all the Health Units, Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Primary Health Centres to implement Section 4 of the J&K State RTI Act, 2009 particularly giving the information about the blood group available therein. “In case, there is repeated non-compliance with the provisions of law, the Commission would treat the same as deemed refusal to disseminate the information and initiate penalty proceedings”, the CIC made it clear.
The Commission has also directed the then PIO Government Medical College, Jammu to explain why penalty proceedings under Section 17 of the J&K RTI Act, 2009 may not be initiated against him for not providing the information within the stipulated time.
Pointing towards the deliberations of All India Convention of RTI Inform-ation Commissions of the country, the CIC said, “the Prime Minister has rightly observed that RTI cannot be used only for replying the queries but the real purpose will be served if the disclosure of information leads to improvement in the governance”, adding “the authorities while dealing with this application should have appreciated that the RTI queries raised by the complainant pertained to the important issues regarding the collection, identification of the required blood group and the wastage caused in the process of blood donation”.
“Preservation of human life and better quality of life is centre to the goal of good governance which can be achieved by bringing transparency and accountability in the working of public authorities”, the Commission has concluded.
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