- No substitute has yet been found for blood and the blood necessary for transfusion is obtained from the donors. Although, blood used to be transfused as “whole blood” up to recent times, the situation has now changed. If one unit of blood could be separated accurately as recommended, there is a possibility of deriving up to four components out of it. As such, a patient can be given only the portion of blood he needs and the balance components can be given to other patients who need them. The National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) collects 100,000 litres of Plasma, annually, from the donors and after the separation of components the NBTS utilizes only around 60,000 units out of them for the clinical use. Since the facilities are not available with the NBTS to separate a large number of components there is the possibility of providing the balance quantity of 40,000 litres which is currently discarded, to the companies which possess the technology of producing Plasma Protein. Although, the situation is such, the Plasma Protein requirement of Sri Lanka is imported from the foreign companies / institutions which produce Plasma Protein incurring a heavy expenditure. As such, the proposal made by Hon. (Dr.) Rajitha Senaratne, the Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine, to give the excess quantity of Plasma for Plasma Protein production, was approved by the Cabinet.