Stating this, the Vice-chancellor of the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) Surendra Nath Pasupalak said that the first of its kind blood bank would be established on the premises of OUAT at an estimated cost of Rs 3.25 crore.

Pasupalak said a proposal in this regard was earlier submitted to the National Agriculture Development Programme (NADP). After approval from the NADP, the OUAT is now awaiting approval from the state government.

The project will have a 60:40 sharing between the Centre and the state government, the OUAT VC said.

The cattle farmers will provide blood voluntarily. The blood bank will also go and collect blood from centres. Blood transfusion facility for cattle blood will also be done at the proposed blood bank. This will prevent death of cattle during deliveries and other ailments, he said.

The storage facility would come in handy for the veterinarians to save lives of the domesticated animals.

There are a couple of blood banks for dogs

Blood banks for animals are rare in India. It was only in 2010 that the country’s first blood bank for dogs opened in Tamil Nadu. It was a facility started by the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS). India’s second such facility – for dogs – opened at Delhi’s Rajokri village near the Delhi-Gurgaon border two years later.