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Blood online
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This website offers valuable information on blood donors across the country
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FRANTIC PHONE calls to friends and relatives and a great deal of anxiety. All this is quite common during emergencies. And any help from unknown quarters comes as a big relief. But, one is often caught scrambling during critical times for much-needed information.
Those looking out for blood donors would understand the nightmare of not getting the required information at the appropriate time. Apart from the regular modes (read friends and telephone network), help now comes from the Internet. www.indianblooddonors.com is one such website.
The site has information on blood donors across the country. "Our website has about 20, 000 registered donors and every month we get about 500 new registrations. We help about 20-30 patients every day," says Nagpur-based Khusroo Poacha, the founder of the website. The website has a `blood scroll', which is updated regularly. Rare blood groups are also listed.
Getting information about blood donors from the website is quite simple. The site has a red search box wherein you have to enter the matching blood group and the city. In cities with a large number of registered donors, the option of selecting a particular area is also provided.
For example, if you are in Coimbatore you can get information on donors in areas like Peelamedu, R.S. Puram, Saibaba Colony and Town Hall. Click on the search button and you get a list of blood donors in your neighbourhood. The addresses, contact numbers and the previous date of blood donation of each donor in that area with their blood group are displayed.
Now Poacha is planning to enter into a tie-up with a private firm in Chennai for setting up a hotline for blood donations. With the hotline, a support executive will provide all the information needed.
"We are also planning to offer a desktop alert and SMS alert for emergencies," he says. The website has come a long way ever since its launch in March 2000.
When Poacha started the portal (inspired by the failure to get a rare blood group for a friend), with Rs. 25,000 and a second-hand computer, there were just three registered donors.
But, things changed after the earthquake that struck Gujarat on January 26, 2001. "It was a turning point. All the 400 units that were requested were used and more people started to contact us for donating blood and receiving information on donation," he says.
The database throws up interesting facts.
While Chennai has about 4,000 registered donors, there are just five in Thanjavur.
The website boasts of a large membership in big cities like Bangalore (about 3,500) and Mumbai (2,500 donors).
So, if you want blood or are willing to donate, check out this site. A click of the mouse (or, should we say a few clicks?) might make all the difference to someone's life.
M. ALLIRAJAN
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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