Academy
Golden Jubilee of ISBTI: TRANSCON 2025 and the evolving landscape of Transfusion Medicine in India
The golden-jubilee edition of the Annual National Conference of the Indian Society of Blood Transfusion & Immunohematology (ISBTI), was held from 19-21 September 2025 in Gurugram, popularly known as TRANSCON unfolded with exceptional energy and expectation. Marking half a century of ISBTI’s contribution to India’s transfusion landscape, TRANSCON 2025 stood out not only for its golden-jubilee significance but also for its strong emphasis on global partnerships, scientific advancement, and the evolving identity of transfusion medicine in the region.
The conference commenced with a dignified inaugural ceremony. The inauguration was led by Sangeeta Pathak, Organising Chairperson, who welcomed delegates and outlined the scientific vision of the conference. Mohit Chaudhary, Organising Secretary, provided an overview of the program structure, while Yudhbir Singh, President, ISBTI, reflected on ISBTI’s 50 year journey and its commitment to strengthening transfusion practices across India. The Chief Guest, Shri Nayab Singh Saini ji, extended warm congratulations to ISBTI on its golden jubilee and emphasised the critical importance of safe blood access in a rapidly advancing healthcare system. Shri Arvind Sharma ji highlighted the transformative progress of India’s blood services and commended ISBTI’s sustained national impact. The ceremony also featured the ISBTI Awards, recognising distinguished contributions to transfusion medicine, voluntary blood donation, and service excellence.
TRANSCON 2025
Satyam Arora at TRANSCON 2025
Among the many highlights, one moment firmly anchored the conference in the international transfusion community: the Joint Scientific Session of ISBT and ISBTI. This collaborative session symbolised the growing synergy between India’s transfusion specialists and global leaders, capturing the spirit of shared learning and innovation. The organisers expressed deep gratitude to ISBT for its generous support, scientific contribution, and unwavering encouragement, which enriched the program and broadened its global relevance
The joint ISBT-ISBTI session, chaired by Neelam Marwaha and Moushumi Swami, brought together experts and delegates to discuss predictive hemovigilance, rare donor access, neonatal/pediatric transfusion policy, and national programmatic updates. The session, featured lectures from Shruthi Narayan, Arwa Z. Al-Riyami, Satyam Arora, and Gopal Patidar.
Shruthi Narayan, opened the session with her presentation on forecasting tomorrow’s hemovigilance. She described the transition from retrospective incident recording toward real-time predictive signaling, underlining the role of digitalization, structured reporting, and machine-learning–supported dashboards. Arwa Z. Al-Riyami, highlighted gaps and opportunities within India’s rare donor landscape, emphasizing molecular typing, national registry development and stronger inter-institutional coordination. Satyam Arora ISBT Regional Director South East Asia, stressed the impact of standardized practice on improved outcomes and reduced transfusion variability in NICUs and PICUs across India.
Gopal Patidar concluded the session with outlining ongoing challenges such as reporting variability and training gaps, and described the roadmap for digital strengthening, CAPA standardization and real-time escalation pathways and reaffirmed the central role of HvPI in shaping India’s transfusion safety framework.
Arwa Z. Al-Riyami at TRANSCON 2025
The scientific program of TRANSCON 2025 offered a vibrant blend of lectures, symposia, panel discussions, and hands-on workshops. Spanning multiple parallel halls, it captured both the foundational elements of transfusion medicine and the rapidly evolving areas that are shaping the field’s future.
Voluntary blood donation and donor health formed a thematic core early in the conference, Suchet Sachdeva emphasising donor retention, youth engagement, and the strengthening of donor hemovigilance systems. The discussion reaffirmed ISBTI’s long-standing commitment to voluntary non-remunerated donation an ethos that has guided its work for five decades. Sessions on component preparation and processing highlighted advances in automation, quality systems, and innovations such as cold stored platelets and extended plasma products. These technical updates reflected the ongoing shift toward more standardised, technology-driven blood centre operations across India. A series of clinically focused sessions explored transfusion practice in oncology, obstetrics, transplantation, critical care, and paediatrics, with experts Mahapatra presenting evidence-based approaches to reducing unnecessary transfusions and improving patient outcomes. Case-based deliberations provided valuable practical insights on immunohematology, keeping the program grounded in real-world problem-solving. Meanwhile, the discussion on apheresis and cellular therapy drew significant attention. With India rapidly advancing in stem cell transplants and initiating indigenous CAR-T cell programs, experts discussed the growing interface between transfusion services and cellular therapeutics. Many attendees viewed this as a defining direction for the next decade.
Forward-looking themes such as AI, digital health, RFID-based patient safety, big-data analytics, and predictive modelling in inventory management added a modern dimension to the conference. These discussions underscored the transformation of blood centres from service units into data-rich, decision-driven platforms supporting precision care.
Beyond its scientific depth, TRANSCON 2025 carried a strong sense of heritage. Seniors of transfusion medicine were honoured for their lifelong contributions, while young researchers enlivened the halls with oral and poster presentations reflecting emerging talent. It was a celebration of how far Indian transfusion medicine has come and how much potential lies ahead.
A notable strength of TRANSCON 2025 was the high degree of participant satisfaction, reflected through formal feedback sessions and informal discussions across the venue. Delegates consistently appreciated the scientific depth, the diversity of topics, and the excellent balance between foundational teaching and cutting edge advances.
As TRANSCON 2025 drew to a close, a recurring message resonated across the venue: collaboration is the future of transfusion medicine. The joint ISBT-ISBTI session not only enriched the scientific agenda but also reaffirmed the value of sustained global partnerships. The golden-jubilee TRANSCON did more than commemorate fifty years; it laid the foundation for the next era of transfusion medicine in India driven by innovation, global collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to safety and patient care.
