Mumbai: BMC Scraps ₹1-Crore Blood Bank Analyser Amid Fears Of Costlier Blood Tests

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) cancelled procurement of a ₹1-crore fully automated immunohematology analyser due to high cost of proprietary reagents.

Health activist Chetan Kothari opposed the tender, arguing the machine suited private hospitals, not civic ones serving poorer patients.

Kothari cited a Maharashtra government circular capping charges for blood tests, warning the analyser could raise costs by ₹280 to ₹1,080 per procedure.

The procurement was scrapped amid declining blood collection and shortages in BMC hospitals, and questions about the machine's cost-effectiveness.

BMC ended the proposal after concerns that the machine would be underutilised and its expensive reagents could leave it idle.