Blood Bank Equipment List: What a Licensed Blood Centre in India Needs

A licensed blood centre in India needs equipment in five areas: donor collection, blood grouping and infection testing, component preparation, cold storage at three different temperatures, and general support (sterilisation, waste and standby power). The legal minimum is listed in Schedule F Part XII-B of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945. WinHyCare designs and supplies the cold-chain part of that list, from blood bank and transfusion storage equipment to transport coolers, and this guide is honest about the rest.

The March 2020 amendment (G.S.R. 166(E)) renamed blood banks “blood centres” throughout the rules and updated parts of the equipment list. Both terms still appear in tenders, so we use both here.

What equipment does a blood bank need?

Here is the Schedule F list, grouped by area, with what the rule says about each item and whether we supply it. Where the rule sets a temperature, it is quoted.

Area	Equipment named in Schedule F Part XII-B	What the rule specifies	From WinHyCare?
Blood collection	Refrigerators for tested and untested blood, stored separately	2–6°C, digital dial thermometer, recording thermograph, alarm device, provision for continuous power supply	Yes: WBC-4V blood bank refrigerators
Blood collection	Donor beds, chairs, tables, bedside table, recovery beds	Suitably cushioned, appropriate size	No
Blood collection	Sphygmomanometer, stethoscope, clinical thermometers		No
Blood collection	Weighing devices for donors and blood containers		No
Haemoglobin testing	Copper sulphate solution, haemoglobinometer or colorimetric method; for camps, a portable Hb meter (2020)	Copper sulphate at specific gravity 1.053	No
Blood containers	Disposable PVC blood bags, closed system, with CPDA-1, ACD or additive solutions	Per IP/USP/BP	No
Laboratory	Refrigerators for diagnostic kits and reagents	4–6°C (±2°C) with digital dial thermometer and continuous power	Yes: 2–8°C pharmacy refrigerators
Laboratory	Compound microscope, table centrifuge, water bath, Rh viewing box, incubator, serological shakers	Water bath 37–56°C	No
Laboratory	ELISA reader with printer, washer and micropipettes		No
Laboratory	Dielectric tube sealer		No
Laboratory	Insulated containers for transporting blood to wards and hospitals	2–10°C	Yes: portable medical coolers with a 2–8°C mode
General	Autoclave with temperature and pressure indicator, incinerator, stand-by generator		No
Component preparation	Air conditioner, laminar air flow bench	Component room held at 20–25°C	No
Component preparation	Refrigerated centrifuge; plasma expresser, automated extractor or multi-head tube sealer (2020); dielectric sealer; weighing device		No
Component preparation	Refrigerator	2–6°C with digital dial thermometer, recording thermograph, alarm, continuous power	Yes: WBC-4V series
Component preparation	Platelet agitator with incubator	Wherever necessary	Yes: WPI-5 and WPI-10 platelet incubators
Component preparation	Deep freezer or snap freezer	−30°C to −40°C, and −75°C to −80°C	Yes: WDF-40V528 plasma freezer and ULT freezers
Component preparation	Refrigerated water bath for plasma thawing; cryobath (added 2020)		No
Component preparation	Insulated blood bag containers for transport	At the appropriate temperature	Yes: portable medical coolers

Seven of the rows above are cold-chain equipment, and they carry the most risk: a single temperature excursion can make every unit inside the cabinet unusable.

Which temperatures does a blood centre have to hold?

Four, and each needs its own equipment.

• 2–6°C for whole blood and red cells. The rules ask for a recording thermograph and alarm, and NACO and NABH both require that alarm to sound in an area staffed round the clock.
• 20–24°C with continuous gentle agitation for platelets. NACO and NABH specify 22 ± 2°C, with a temperature indicator or recorder, alarm and alternate power.
• −30°C to −40°C for fresh frozen plasma and cryoprecipitate, which must be stored at −30°C or colder for up to one year.
• −75°C to −80°C for faster freezing. The 2020 amendment says a −80°C deep freezer “should be used for faster freezing of plasma for preparation of cryoprecipitate.”

WHO’s blood cold chain manual publishes minimum performance specifications for each of these: blood refrigerators, plasma freezers, platelet agitators, plasma thawers and blood transport boxes. They are a useful second check when you write a tender specification. Our guides on how long blood can be stored and plasma freezer temperature explain why each band exists.

What does the licence require before equipment is bought?

Equipment is one part of a licence application, not the first step. Under Part X-B of the Drugs Rules, a blood centre applies on Form 27-C and is licensed on Form 28-C. The licence is granted only after an inspection, and the Central Licence Approving Authority can reject an application if the applicant cannot meet the requirements, whatever the inspection report says. A licence is valid for five years.

Space comes before equipment too. Schedule F asks for 100 square metres for blood centre operations plus 50 square metres for component preparation, with separate rooms for donor registration, collection, component preparation, serology, infection testing, sterilisation and washing, donor rest, and stores and records. The component room must be air-conditioned to 20–25°C, which also helps the refrigerators and freezers inside it.

So the order of work is usually: premises and staffing plan, then the equipment list, then procurement. Buying a freezer before the floor plan is fixed is how a −80°C unit ends up in a room without the ventilation it needs.

How often does each item need calibrating?

Schedule F sets minimum frequencies, and NABH requires calibration traceable to SI units, with labels showing calibration status and due date on every item. A few examples from the rules:

Equipment	Performance check	Frequency
Temperature recorder	Compare against thermometer	Daily
Refrigerated centrifuge	Observe speed and temperature	Each day of use
Haematocrit centrifuge	Standardise	Before first use, after repair or adjustment, and annually
Blood container weighing device	Standardise against a container of known weight	Each day of use
Electronic thermometers	Check	Monthly
Autoclave	Observe temperature	Each time of use

Budget for this when you buy. A refrigerator with a built-in printer or data logger makes the daily recorder check straightforward; one with only a display turns it into a manual reading every few hours.

What does WinHyCare supply for a blood centre?

We design and supply the cold-chain equipment and leave the rest to specialists. Our range for blood centres:

• Blood bank refrigerators: WBC-4V108, WBC-4V208, WBC-4V658 and WBC-4V1008, from 108 to 1,008 litres, holding 4 ± 1°C with forced-air cooling, five alarm conditions, a built-in printer and a 72-hour battery for the display and alarms.
• Plasma freezer: WDF-40V528, 528 litres, −10°C to −40°C, with high and low temperature, power failure, door-ajar and sensor alarms.
• ULT freezers: −40°C to −86°C models for the −75°C to −80°C requirement.
• Platelet incubators: WPI-5 and WPI-10, 20–24°C with oscillating shelves, for 5 or 10 bags.
• Reagent storage: 2–8°C pharmacy refrigerators.
• Transport: portable medical coolers with 2–8°C, −10°C to −25°C and 22 ± 2°C modes.
• Laboratory: the WCF-2006H micro-haematocrit centrifuge.

All of it is supplied to ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 quality standards, with installation and service coordinated from our Hyderabad service centre.

What we do not supply: refrigerated centrifuges, component extractors and plasma expressers, tube sealers, blood collection monitors and donor couches, haemoglobin meters, laminar air flow benches, plasma thawers and cryobaths, ELISA systems, microscopes, autoclaves, incinerators, generators, blood bags and reagents. If a tender bundles those items with cold-chain equipment, tell us and we will quote our lines and say which ones we are not quoting.

What about a blood storage centre?

A blood storage centre receives tested blood from a licensed blood centre and stores it for transfusion; it does not collect or process. CDSCO’s guideline describes the exemption from a full licence created by notification G.S.R. 909(E) of 2001 for storage centres run by first referral units, community and primary health centres or hospitals, under item 5B of Schedule K. It lists the core equipment as a “blood bank refrigerator with alarm system & temperature indicator,” a minimum area of 10 square metres, and an annual limit of 2,000 units, with a separate equipment list if components will be stored. Confirm the current conditions with your State Drugs Controller before you plan around them.

For a storage centre, our WBC-4V108 (108 litres, rated for 66 bags) or WBC-4V208 is usually the right size, plus a platelet incubator if platelets are stocked. For a full blood centre, see our note on what drives blood bank refrigerator prices before you collect quotes, and our tenders and GeM page if you are buying through a government tender.