Delhi HC seeks guidelines from govt on blood donation policy

The Delhi High Court issued notice to the Delhi government, asking it to furnish its guidelines issued to hospitals regarding procurement of blood. The Court was hearing the plea of a lady who claimed that Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital had refused medical assistance for delivery of her baby as she refused to donate blood. A Bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice Manmohan issued the notice to the government, directing it to file its reply by September 9. Approaching the Court through an NGO called Society for Voice of Human Rights and Justice, the woman wanted to know whether it was mandatory for a patient to donate blood or he/she could volunteer for it before a surgery. Appearing for the petitioner NGO, its counsel Raj Kumar Kaushik told the Bench that despite several requests, the hospital authorities failed to provide any information relating to rules under which the hospital could force a patient to donate blood before providing him/her with medical assistance. The lawyer submitted that the woman went to the hospital for delivery on December 8, 2008 after suffering from acute labour pain. The petitioner alleged the doctors first tried to force her to donate blood, and when she refused they asked her husband to do the same. She was finally turned away by the hospital when her husband too declined to donate blood.