New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) India is building five world standard blood banks at a cost of Rs.4.65 billion, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said here Monday.“There will be four regional blood banks in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata at a cost of Rs.500 million each. These blood banks will be of world standard,” Ramadoss said at an event organised to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Hemophilia Federation of India.

“Along with these four banks, another larger bank will come up in Chennai which will have the capacity to process nearly 300,000 units of blood every year. Most of this purified blood can be used for the benefit of hemophilia patients,” he said.

The cost of this blood bank will be much more than the regional banks but it will have a blood fractionation unit for hemophilia patients. All these banks will be managed by the National Aids Control Society.

The minister said that India needs at least eight million units of blood every year.

“As against such a huge demand, we get nearly 5.5 million units of which little over 60 percent is collected through voluntary donation.”

Hemophilia is a congenital lifelong bleeding disorder. Its patients bleed internally, mostly in joints, muscles and vital organs like brains. In many cases, the disease leads to permanent disability.

India is home to 75,000 such patients, most of them men. Though the disease is incurable, it can be managed through anti-hemophilia factor injections, which are very expensive. The patients often need blood transfusion.