New Delhi, May 12 -- The apex drug regulator has directed all licensed blood centres to enrol in a national digital portal, as part of a crackdown after cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections in children due to contaminated transfusions across multiple states, according to two government officials and a document reviewed by Mint.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation issued a directive ordering all 4,153 licensed blood banks to complete registration on the Online National Drug Licensing System portal by 13 May, a single-window platform that centralizes licensing, tracks donor histories, and provides hospitals and patients visibility into verified blood supplies.

"In order to strengthen regulatory oversight, enh...