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24/7 available services
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A licensed blood bank operating round the clock at Charak Hospital, Dubagga — with a cell separator for SDP single donor platelets, leukodepleted red cells, plasma and cryoprecipitate, emergency grouping and cross-matching, and a voluntary donation centre where one donation can help up to three patients.
Which groups you can give red cells to, and which you can receive from. Availability changes hourly — call 0522-666-4444 to check current stock for your group.
Modern transfusion practice gives the patient only the component they actually need. That is why a single whole-blood donation can help up to three different patients.
Blood exactly as donated, without separation. Used mainly in massive acute haemorrhage and exchange transfusion, though component therapy is preferred in most modern practice.
Red cells with most plasma removed. The workhorse of transfusion — used for anaemia, surgical blood loss, trauma, gastrointestinal bleeding and chronic conditions like thalassaemia.
Platelets separated from ordinary whole blood donations. An adequate adult dose is pooled from 4 to 6 donors. Used for dengue, leukaemia and chemotherapy-induced low platelet counts.
Collected on our cell separator by plateletpheresis. One SDP unit gives the same yield as 4–6 RDP units but from a single donor — lowering infection and alloimmunisation risk.
Red cells filtered to remove donor white cells. Cuts febrile transfusion reactions, HLA alloimmunisation and CMV risk — important for thalassaemia, oncology and transplant patients.
Plasma frozen soon after collection, preserving clotting factors. Used in liver disease, disseminated intravascular coagulation, warfarin reversal and massive transfusion protocols.
The concentrated fraction rich in fibrinogen, Factor VIII and von Willebrand factor. Used in fibrinogen deficiency, haemophilia A and obstetric haemorrhage. Available on request.
ABO grouping, Rh typing, antibody screening, direct and indirect Coombs testing, and full compatibility cross-matching before every unit is issued — available round the clock.
Based on National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC) guidelines under India's Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Final eligibility is always decided by the medical officer on the day.
Platelet donation on our cell separator is a different procedure from whole blood donation, and the donor criteria are stricter. Your red cells and plasma are returned to you during the sitting, so only platelets are removed — which is why you can donate again far sooner than after a whole blood donation.
Bring a government photo ID — Aadhaar, PAN, Voter ID or Driving Licence. You fill a donor form and a confidential health questionnaire covering medical history, medication, recent travel and lifestyle.
A medical officer checks your haemoglobin by finger-prick, plus blood pressure, pulse, temperature and weight. This doubles as a free mini health check, and you are told your blood group.
You recline comfortably while 350–450 ml is collected through a sterile, single-use needle and bag. You feel one brief pinprick and nothing after. A fresh sterile set is used for every single donor.
You rest with juice and snacks while staff confirm you feel well. Most donors walk out feeling completely normal. Avoid heavy lifting, driving long distances and alcohol for the rest of the day.
Your unit is screened for HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, syphilis and malaria, grouped and typed, then separated into components. Any positive result is communicated to you confidentially.
The treating doctor writes a blood requisition specifying the exact component — PRBC, platelets, FFP — and the number of units required.
Bring the requisition and the patient's admission details to the blood bank. A blood sample is taken for grouping and cross-matching against available units.
Under India's replacement donor system you may be asked to arrange donors. They need not match the patient's group — any compatible donor replenishes the common pool.
Once cross-matching is complete the unit is issued to the ward and transfused under nursing supervision, with vital signs monitored throughout.
Blood cannot be manufactured. Every unit transfused in India came from a person who chose to donate it — and it expires, so the need never stops.
Your single donation separates into red cells, platelets and plasma — potentially helping three different patients.
There is no synthetic substitute for human blood. Voluntary donors are the only source that exists.
Platelet units last just five days, so dengue season demand can only be met by continuous fresh donation.
Haemoglobin, BP, pulse, weight, blood group, plus HIV, Hepatitis B and C, syphilis and malaria screening.
A single major trauma or road accident patient can require ten or more units within hours of arrival.
Post-partum haemorrhage remains a leading cause of maternal death, and immediate blood availability prevents it.
Chemotherapy patients and thalassaemia children depend on regular, lifelong transfusion support to survive.
Major planned surgery cannot safely proceed unless cross-matched units are reserved and ready beforehand.
Our blood bank operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year, from the Charak Hospital campus on Hardoi Road, Dubagga. It serves the hospital's own operating theatres, ICUs, labour room, dialysis unit and emergency department, and also accepts walk-in voluntary donors who simply want to give blood.
Because it sits inside a NABH-accredited multispeciality hospital rather than operating standalone, the turnaround from requisition to cross-matched unit is short — which matters most in exactly the situations where it matters at all: obstetric haemorrhage, road trauma, gastrointestinal bleeding and unstable surgical patients.
Safety in transfusion medicine is not one safeguard but a chain of them, and the chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
The first safeguard happens before any needle is used. The confidential health questionnaire and medical officer's assessment screen out donors whose blood could carry risk, and also protect donors who should not be donating that day — someone anaemic, dehydrated, febrile or recently unwell.
Indian law requires five tests on every single unit before it can be issued: HIV 1 and 2, Hepatitis B surface antigen, Hepatitis C, syphilis and malaria. There are no exemptions, not even in an emergency. A unit that tests positive is discarded and the donor is informed confidentially so they can seek care.
Every unit is ABO grouped and Rh typed. Before any transfusion the recipient's sample is cross-matched against the specific unit to be given, and antibody screening detects irregular antibodies that could cause a reaction even where ABO groups match. This step is why you are asked for a patient sample rather than simply a stated blood group — a verbally reported group is never sufficient.
Each component has its own storage requirement, and breaking that chain destroys the unit. Red cells are held at 2–6°C, plasma frozen at −30°C, and platelets kept at 20–24°C under continuous gentle agitation — which is also why platelets last only five days while frozen plasma lasts a year.
Lucknow sees a predictable surge in platelet requirement each monsoon and post-monsoon season as dengue cases rise, and this is the period when blood banks across the city come under the most pressure.
It is worth knowing that a falling platelet count alone does not automatically mean a transfusion is needed. Most dengue patients recover without any platelet transfusion at all, and current clinical practice reserves transfusion for patients with active bleeding, or for those whose counts fall below a threshold judged critical by the treating physician. Insisting on prophylactic platelets when they are not clinically indicated consumes a scarce five-day-shelf-life resource that another patient may urgently need.
Where platelets genuinely are indicated, our blood bank can provide them as SDP — Single Donor Platelets, collected on a cell separator by plateletpheresis. Instead of pooling platelets from four to six separate whole-blood donors to make up one adult dose, the entire dose comes from one donor in a single 60 to 90 minute sitting, with that donor's red cells and plasma returned to them as the machine runs.
The clinical advantage is donor exposure. A patient receiving pooled RDP is exposed to the blood of several people; with SDP they are exposed to one. That reduces the risk of transfusion-transmitted infection and, importantly for patients who will need platelets repeatedly, lowers the chance of HLA alloimmunisation — the immune sensitisation that makes later platelet transfusions progressively less effective and harder to match.
The practical constraint is that SDP requires a scheduled donor and a trained technician on the machine, so it cannot always be produced instantly. If your treating doctor has indicated SDP, call 0522-666-4444 early rather than at the point of crisis, and start identifying willing donors among healthy relatives and friends in the meantime.
If a family member is admitted with dengue, the most useful thing you can do is encourage healthy relatives and friends to donate — both to cover your patient's potential requirement and to sustain the pool that everyone else is drawing from.
Before: Eat a normal meal within three hours of donating — do not come fasting. Drink plenty of water. Sleep adequately the night before. Avoid alcohol for 24 hours and fatty food immediately beforehand, since lipaemic plasma can render a unit unusable. Carry photo ID.
After: Keep the bandage on for four to five hours. Drink extra fluids through the day. Avoid heavy lifting, strenuous exercise, smoking for at least an hour, and alcohol for 24 hours. If you feel light-headed, sit or lie down with your legs raised. Resume your normal diet, and include iron-rich foods over the following weeks.
Yes. The blood bank at Charak Hospital, Hardoi Road, Dubagga, Lucknow operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including Sundays and public holidays. Emergency blood grouping and cross-matching are available round the clock for trauma, surgery, obstetric haemorrhage and critically ill patients. Call 0522-666-4444 at any hour.
As per National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC) guidelines, you can donate blood if you are aged 18 to 65 years, weigh at least 45 kg, have a haemoglobin level of at least 12.5 g/dL, and have normal blood pressure, pulse and temperature. Men may donate once every 3 months and women once every 4 months. You must be free of infection, not pregnant or breastfeeding, and not have consumed alcohol in the previous 24 hours.
The complete visit takes 30 to 45 minutes, but the actual blood draw lasts only 8 to 10 minutes. The rest is registration, medical screening and a short rest with refreshments afterwards. You feel a brief pinprick when the needle is inserted, similar to a routine blood test, and nothing after that. A sterile single-use needle and bag are used for every donor, so there is no risk of infection from donating.
Blood donation is safe for healthy adults. A donation of 350 to 450 ml is roughly 8 percent of your total blood volume, which the body tolerates easily. Plasma volume is restored within 24 to 48 hours, and red blood cells are fully replaced in about 4 to 6 weeks. This is why a 3 month gap between donations is required for men and 4 months for women. Drink extra fluids and eat a normal meal on the day you donate.
Indian law makes five screening tests mandatory on every unit of donated blood before it can be issued: HIV 1 and 2, Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), Hepatitis C, syphilis (VDRL) and malaria. In addition, every unit undergoes ABO grouping and Rh typing, and a cross-match against the recipient's sample is performed before any transfusion. Any unit that tests positive is discarded and the donor is informed confidentially.
Whole blood is separated into components so that one donation can help up to three patients. Packed Red Blood Cells treat anaemia and blood loss in surgery or trauma, and leukodepleted PRBC is available for patients needing repeated transfusion. Platelets are used for dengue, leukaemia and chemotherapy patients with low counts, available as Random Donor Platelets or as SDP collected by apheresis. Fresh Frozen Plasma treats clotting factor deficiencies, liver disease and massive haemorrhage. Cryoprecipitate is available on request for fibrinogen deficiency and haemophilia.
Yes. Charak Hospital's blood bank in Dubagga, Lucknow has a cell separator and provides SDP (Single Donor Platelets) collected by plateletpheresis. In this procedure platelets are collected from one donor using an automated cell separator while their red cells and plasma are returned to them during the same sitting. One SDP unit delivers roughly the same platelet yield as 4 to 6 units of Random Donor Platelets, but from a single donor instead of several. Call 0522-666-4444 to check availability or arrange an SDP donor.
RDP (Random Donor Platelets) are separated from ordinary whole blood donations, so a patient needing an adequate dose receives pooled platelets from 4 to 6 different donors. SDP (Single Donor Platelets) are collected from one donor using an apheresis cell separator and provide that entire dose from a single person. Because the patient is exposed to one donor rather than several, SDP carries a lower risk of transfusion-transmitted infection and of HLA alloimmunisation, which matters especially for patients needing repeated platelet support such as those on chemotherapy.
Apheresis platelet donors must meet stricter criteria than whole blood donors: age 18 to 60 years, weight at least 50 kg, haemoglobin at least 12.5 g/dL, and a pre-donation platelet count of at least 1.5 lakh per microlitre. Donors must have good, accessible veins and must not have taken aspirin or other anti-platelet medication in the previous 48 to 72 hours, as these affect platelet function. The procedure takes 60 to 90 minutes. Because red cells are returned, apheresis donors can donate again after 48 to 72 hours, up to a maximum of 24 times per year.
Leukodepleted (leucoreduced) blood has had its white blood cells removed by a special filter. Donor white cells serve no purpose for the recipient and are responsible for several transfusion complications. Leukodepletion substantially reduces febrile non-haemolytic transfusion reactions, lowers the risk of HLA alloimmunisation which can make future transfusions and transplants harder to match, and reduces the risk of transmitting cytomegalovirus. It is particularly recommended for thalassaemia and other repeatedly transfused patients, oncology and chemotherapy patients, transplant candidates and recipients, and neonates. Leukodepleted PRBC is available at Charak Hospital, Lucknow.
O negative is the universal red cell donor because it carries no A, B or Rh D antigens, so it can be given to a patient of any blood group. This makes it the group used in extreme emergencies before the patient's group is known. AB positive is the universal red cell recipient and can receive from any group. For plasma the relationship reverses: AB plasma is the universal plasma donor while O can receive plasma only from O.
The treating doctor writes a blood requisition specifying the component and number of units. Take this requisition, along with the patient's admission details and a sample for cross-matching, to the blood bank. Under India's replacement donor system you may be asked to arrange donors — usually family members or friends of any compatible group, since the donated units replenish the common pool. In a genuine emergency, blood is issued first and replacement is arranged afterwards. Call 0522-666-4444 for help.
It depends on control and on the specific medicine. Diet-controlled or tablet-controlled diabetes with stable sugar levels is usually acceptable, but donors on insulin are generally deferred. Well-controlled hypertension on stable medication is often acceptable if your blood pressure is within normal limits on the day. Antibiotics, blood thinners, isotretinoin and certain other drugs require deferral. Do not self-assess — declare everything on the questionnaire and let the medical officer decide.
Every donor receives a free mini health check: haemoglobin, blood pressure, pulse, temperature, weight and blood group, plus screening for HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, syphilis and malaria, with confidential notification of any positive result. Regular donation also helps regulate iron stores. The main benefit, though, is that a single donation separates into components that can help up to three different patients.
After a tattoo, body piercing or ear piercing you are deferred for 6 to 12 months depending on the setting and sterility standards. After most routine vaccinations the deferral is 14 to 28 days, and after a rabies or hepatitis B immunoglobulin dose it is longer. After recovering from dengue, malaria, typhoid or COVID-19 a defined recovery period applies. Declare these on your questionnaire and the medical officer will advise your eligible date.
It takes under an hour, costs you nothing, and includes a free health check. Walk in with a photo ID, or call to check blood group availability for a patient.