At least six blood banks in West Bengal are under investigation for allegedly selling blood to individuals and private blood banks outside the State in what Health Department officials have described as an inter-State, multi-crore racket.

The sale of blood is prohibited under the National Blood Policy, which was introduced in 2002. Officials said raids have been conducted at blood banks in Kolkata, Howrah, East Burdwan, West Burdwan, Nadia, and North Dinajpur districts over the past two weeks and large quantities of plasma were found to have been sold to entities in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, among other States.

Officials said around 11 blood banks have been barred from organising donation drives until the investigation is over. However, they are still permitted to collect blood from donors at their centres. The restrictions came into effect on August 1. Popular medical facilities and pathology labs like Ashok Laboratory, Life Care, Kothari Medical, Health Point Hospital, and several others are on the list.

The racket, worth crores, kept the health department in the dark by selling blood illegally, health department officials said.

Last week, Health Minister Sharadwat Mukherjee told reporters that officials found that people who donated blood at a camp in South 24 Parganas were offered gifts. “You can give food, flowers, a badge or a certificate to a donor, but you cannot give gifts. We recorded instances of donors getting fans, mixer grinders, clocks and money,” said Dr. Mukherjee.