When 50-year-old Shantha’s (name changed) husband met with an accident near Puducherry early this month, he was rushed to the Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital. Before performing the surgery, the medical staff there asked Ms. Shantha to arrange for blood donors. Although only two units of blood were required for transfusion, they had taken four units from the donors.
“There was a lot of pressure on us to bring more donors. My daughter had to request her friends to donate blood,” said Ms. Shantha. The pressure to get replacement for the blood used by the hospitals weighed heavily on the patients’ families as the blood banks attached to the government hospital struggle to meet the requirement with fewer voluntary donors. Despite three blood banks attached to the government hospitals in Puducherry, the calls seeking voluntary blood donors were unabated .
A case in point was the Uyirthuli Blood Donors Communication Centre, a voluntary group of blood donors, in Nellithope which receives requests from hospitals for blood donors every day.
C. Prabhu, founder of Uyirthuli, said: “While we receive calls seeking at least 40 to 45 units of blood every day, we are able to provide only 15 to 20 units. All the hospitals request the patients to arrange for blood donors. However, the stress on replacement donors should be less and the hospitals should encourage more voluntary donors,” he says.
The target as per the Annual Action Plan (AAP) framed by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), Government of India, the percentage of voluntary blood donors in blood banks attached to the government hospitals should be 90. Puducherry could achieve only 48% of this target in the year 2016-17, according to a source.
Short of target
“During this year, the collection in the Department of AIDS Control supported blood banks was 9,055 units as against the target of 18,900 units. In the blood banks attached to the government hospitals, only 2,076 units of blood were collected as against the target of 7,560 units and 6,979 units of blood were collected through blood donation camps organised in schools, colleges and at public places as against the target of 11,340 units. The number of camps conducted were 174 against the target of 151,” according to the annual report submitted to NACO.
A senior official in the Directorate of Health and Family Welfare said the collection of blood in the State was higher than the target. The blood donation camps, organised with NACO’s support, surpassed the target of 21,000 units and collected nearly 25,556 units were collected in all five blood banks attached to the government hospitals, including three in Puducherry, one each in Karaikal and Yanam. “The aggregate blood units collected for the State during 2016-17 was 46,030 as against the requirement for 30,000 units. The total blood units collected in the State is higher mainly due to the replacement donors,” said the official. While official figures claim that the targets were being surpassed, persons such as Ms. Shantha undergo a harrowing time. It points to the need to streamline the blood donation sector.
“At least 60% of the requirement is met through replacement donors and only 40% through voluntary donations. However, it should be vice-versa,” said a senior official in IGMCRI.
Lack of awareness
Mr. Prabhu said the government had to organise mass voluntary blood donation camps during holidays and advertise on large-scale to attract more donors.
“Many blood banks send back voluntary donors when they find the blood pressure high. Instead, they should provide counselling and educate the donors on the diet they have to consume and when they should donate blood instead of shunning them away stating different reasons,” he said.
Rajendra Kulkarni, Associate Professor, Transfusion Medicine Department, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer), stressed that Jipmer was a tertiary care hospital where patients from across the country arrived.
“Jipmer maintains a registry of regular donors which includes those with rare blood groups. The requirement of patients is always met and there is no shortage of stock in the blood bank. It is important to encourage voluntary donation. We should inform the people about the benefits of of voluntary donation. The health benefits of blood donation should be explained to people. Regular camps should be conducted to encourage more blood donors,” he said.
Shortage this summer
With the onset of summer and reduction in blood donation camps, the need for blood had increased. The blood banks in government hospitals are now moving out to the public spaces frequently organising blood donation camps to encourage more volunteers to donate blood. The IGMCRI recently organised a blood donation camp on a Sunday on the beach road.
A senior doctor from the IGMCRI told The Hindu that while the hospital needed at least 400 to 500 units of blood a month, the storage in the blood bank is only 105 units. “The demand increases especially in summer as the number of people undergoing surgery is high. Several of them do not prefer to undergo surgery in winter. There is a wrong notion that it (surgical procedures in summer) might lead to other complications,” said the doctor.
Dr. Mani, Medical Officer (in-charge), Blood Bank, IGMCRI, said they had started organising blood donation camps twice a month.
