Chandigarh: in a major move Blood will be offered free of cost from January 1 in all government hospitals across Punjab, Health and Family Welfare Minister Brahm Mohindra announced  on Monday.

As part of the state government's  initiative 'Tandarust Punjab', across the state, all the government hospitals will supply blood and blood components free of cost to the patients.

"Not only shall be blood provided free of cost, it will also be ensured that the blood is available round the clock in all the hospitals," the Minister told in a statement.

Before this announcement patients had to pay money for processing charges of Rs 300 per unit of blood in civil hospitals and Rs 500 per unit in government medical colleges.

"From now, blood and blood components like packed RBC, fresh frozen plasma, cryoprecipitate, platelets rich plasma and platelet concentrate will be given free of cost to all the patients," he stated.

As we all know that in case of the road accidents or the patients who are undergoing surgeries, blood is the first vital necessity.

Worth mention her there are a total of 116 blood banks in Punjab, out of which 46 are being run by the government, six by the Army and 64 others being  functioned by private entities, stated Mohindra.

He told that 2.26 lakh units of blood were collected by government blood banks, in the last few years.He added that to make more efficient health services, the Punjab government has launched a web portal 'E-Raktkosh' to smooth the progress of the availability of blood.