India, July 23 -- A week after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suspended the licence of Pune's Metro Blood Bank and initiated action against nine other blood centres in the district over serious violations, the Maharashtra public health department has launched a statewide surprise inspection drive to tighten oversight of blood banks.

The State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) carried out surprise inspections between July 17 and 19 in Pune, Solapur, Nashik, Mumbai city and the Mumbai suburbs. The drive follows its June 27 directive after FDA inspections exposed serious lapses at several government and private blood centres.

Since blood is classified as a drug under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, authorities said strict complia...