India’s blood collection ecosystem is vast but fragmented. With over 4,000 licensed blood banks operating under varied ownership—government, private, NGO-run, and hospital-based—there is significant diversity in operational standards, technology adoption, and labeling practices. Regulatory oversight is provided by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO); however, implementation varies widely across states and institutions.

This fragmentation leads to challenges in traceability, interoperability, and quality assurance. Blood components often lack standardized labeling, making it difficult to ensure safe transfusion practices, especially when units are transferred between facilities.

The ISBT 128 Standard, developed by ICCBBA, offers a globally harmonized standard for the identification, labeling, and information transfer of medical products of human origin (MPHO), including blood components. Its adoption in India can:

• Improve traceability and interoperability across institutions and regions
• Enhance patient safety by reducing labeling errors

As ICCBBA’s Development Officer for India, my mandate is to promote the ISBT 128 Standard adoption across the country through strategic engagement, training, and advocacy. Over the past four months, I’ve focused on:

• Building institutional capacity among blood establishments
• Supporting implementation efforts by connecting the ICCBBA Technical team with interested professionals from transfusion and health informatics
• Fostering policy-level discussions

I visited blood collection facilities in India that have already successfully implemented the ISBT 128 Standard to deepen my understanding of real-world implementation.

I also engaged with several central government institutes and prominent hospitals in Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, New Delhi and other locations initiating conversations around the ISBT 128 Standard readiness and integration.

Currently, we are providing an implementation guide to a key central government institute in Central India, along with support for the blood center software they use. In parallel, we’ve initiated engagements with other major blood bank software vendors in India to explore the ISBT 128 Standard compatibility.

On the regulatory front, we have held discussions with authorities to initiate and consider the adoption of the ISBT 128 Standard into national frameworks particularly with the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission and National Resource Center for Electronic Health Records (NRCeS), under Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune.

As these efforts continue, ICCBBA remains committed to supporting India’s blood ecosystem through collaboration, technical guidance, and capacity building. By working closely with blood establishments, technology providers, and regulatory stakeholders, ICCBBA aims to support a coordinated approach to ISBT 128 Standard adoption that strengthens traceability, enhances patient safety, and aligns national practices with globally recognized standards.

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ICCBBA is the nonprofit international standards organization responsible for the development and management of the ISBT 128 Standard.

The acronym ISBT was originally derived from the important role played by the International Society of Blood Transfusion in the development of the Standard. Today it expands as Information Standard for Blood and Transplantation. The number 128 reflects the 128 characters of the ISO/IEC 646 7-bit character set.

The acronym ICCBBA is derived from the International Council for Commonality in Blood Banking Automation.

For More Information About ICCBBA: 
https://www.isbt128.org/

Media Contact:
Christina Salinas
Email: support@iccbba.org