Through these conversations, we try to understand what our customers think about us. Today, we travel to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the second campus of AIIMS Delhi, located at Jhajjar, Haryana in India to talk with Dr. Diptiranjan Rout, Assistant Professor, Department of Transfusion Medicine.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is a specialty tertiary healthcare institute dedicated to cancer care. NCI is located on 60 acres within the Jhajjar campus of AIIMS and 250,000 Sq Meter built-up area. The National Cancer Institute has 700+ beds dedicated to cancer prevention, care, and research. The institute is envisaged to bridge the gap in cancer healthcare, providing state-of-the-art facilities to patients and playing a pioneering role in the field of translational research.

1. Could you explain what your activities consist of?

We are the Transfusion Medicine Department at the National Cancer Institute (Jhajjar), engaged in providing transfusion services for the patients coming to the institute. We process 100% blood components at the institute. We are producing 100% Leuko-reduced blood components and performing the universal blood irradiation process for the blood components for better transfusion care for cancer patients in need. We also provide services like blood group genomics and immunohematology, which help in the transfusion care of the patient. With our patient-centric approach, we are determined to provide safe blood for all.

2. Why is there a need for cold storage in your organization?

We are the Blood Bank Department for a very prominent cancer research and treatment institute in India. We process 100% blood components at our institute. Blood and blood components have a definite shelf life; they are required to be stored at different temperatures for a variable amount of time, in order to use them for patients safely. For example, packed red blood cells (PRBCs) stay for 42 days when stored at a temperature around 4°C, plasma stays for 1 year upon flash freezing at -80°C and platelet stays at 22°C for 5 days only. The plasma units are the source of many vital components like albumin and coagulation factor, which are widely used in cancer patients undergoing massive transfusion processes at the institute. Thus, to maintain the integrity of all these components, we require effective and quality cold storage solutions at our institute.

3. Which products did you buy from B Medical Systems?

We have bought Contact Shock Freezer from B Medical Systems, which helps in flash-freezing plasma bags. The freezer gives us the opportunity to freeze the plasma units within half an hour, enabling us to preserve better coagulation factors and albumin concentration, resulting in improved transfusion care for our patients.

4. What are the features that you liked the most? Could you please talk about the performance of the devices?

The contact shock freezer is completely automated which provides ease of operationality by flash-freezing the plasma units. The dedicated software i.e. ‘°B Connected’ gives us the opportunity to track the procedure we perform and helps us in inventory management. The units are scanned before storage, ensuring that we have complete traceability of the process. The freezer has a two-compartment structure which enables us to have higher throughput, reducing radically the work hours spent on the job. It requires just a push of a button to perform the defrost cycle on the equipment, after which we can even walk away and do our other chores, while the system performs the task. Also, its user-friendly interface and hassle-free maintenance help our technicians and maintenance staff to perform their duties with ease.

5. How are you using the B Medical Systems’ product and how does it benefit your institution?

We are using the Contact Shock Freezer for flash-freezing the plasma bags. It enables us to provide a better quality of albumin and coagulation factor, which helps us to improve cancer patients’ transfusion care at the institute.

6. Have you found in B Medical Systems a trustworthy partner?

We had a fantastic experience working with the B Medical Systems team. All the people from top to bottom were helpful and responded immediately when required. We have been using the equipment for quite some time now, which gives us full confidence in the robustness of the equipment. This is one of the most sought-after brands in our department. We have long-term plans with the organization to procure more for our cold storage solutions in the future.

7. How did you learn about B Medical Systems?

B Medical Systems’ sales representative approached us.

8. How long have you been a B Medical Systems customer?

It has been close to a year (since 2022) that we have been using B Medical Systems’ products.

9. Are you satisfied with the equipment?

Yes, we are satisfied.

10. Would you recommend B Medical Systems?

Yes, having a trusted and reliable industry partner while running a blood transfusion unit is particularly important and finding B Medical System as a cold storage partner is a boon for every blood bank.

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