With blood banks likely to face shortage of donors for about three months as those aged 18 and above will undergo vaccination for COVID-19 from May 1, there has been a call from the blood banks from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi to prospective donors to donate blood and then go for vaccination.
In a release, Avinash Shetty, Medical Superintendent of Kasturba Hospital Manipal, said as per the guidelines there is restriction in donating blood for 28 days after vaccination.
As most of the blood donors are in the age group between 18 and 40, they cannot donate blood for about three months from two doses of vaccination. This was likely to result in shortage of blood, which may lead to postponing of emergency surgeries. Dr. Shetty requested donors to donate blood to the Blood Bank of Kasturba Hospital, Manipal, two days before going for vaccination. ‘‘If there are more than 10 donors, we will arrange vehicle for pick-up and drop,’’ he said.
As per the information about the blood availability posted on Jeeva Sanjeevini portal of the State Drug Control Department, Regional Blood Transfusion Centre of the Government Wenlock Hospital, Indian Red Cross Society at the Lady Goschen Hospital and eight other blood banks in Dakshina Kannada presently has sufficient stock of packed red blood cells (PRBC) in A+ve, AB+ve, B+ve and O+ve and very few stock of PRBC in A-ve, AB-ve, B-ve and O-ve blood groups. While all the 10 blood banks have enough stock of fresh frozen plasma, cryptoprecipitate was available at the blood banks in Wenlock, KMC Hospital, A.J. Hospital, and K.S. Hegde Hospital.
“The stock is coming down. We need more donors to come forward,” said Sharath Kumar, Head of the Regional Blood Transfusion Centre at the Wenlock Hospital.
Bhaskarchandra Shetty, the nominated member to the Mangaluru City Corporation Council and honorary president of Hindu Yuva Sene, which has been regularly blood donation camps across the city, said the district administration can encourage blood donation by giving priority for blood donors during vaccination. “This will encourage more youth to donate,” he said.
