Summer ushers in shortage at blood banks
15 Jun 2012 7:32 AM IST
Every summer, 10-year-old Aditya’s parents face a tough time trying to arrange two units of A-negative blood type for their Thalassemia-afflicted son as the student community, who constitute a major chunk of donors, go on vacation.
Most of Delhi’s blood banks face a shortage particularly from April to August, as many of these rely on student donors.
‘As schools and colleges shut for summer vacation, there is a sharp fall in blood donation camps during summer. The blood banks run out of blood and its components, right from the month of April till August,’ said N K Bhatia, medical director of Jan Jagriti Blood Bank of Delhi.
‘There is shortage of blood during summer. Though we keep in touch with the blood banks in and around Delhi and NCR region regularly, every year during April to July we need to hunt for Aditya’s blood group A-negative as we need fresh blood to create components and A-negative is a very rare group,’ said Seema Chopra, Aditya’s mother.
Thalassemic patients between the age of one and five years need one unit of blood every month; between the ages of five and 10, two units every month; between the ages of 10 and 15, three units; and an adult Thalassemic needs four units of blood every month.
‘India requires 90 lakh units of blood every year, but the country manages to get only six lakh units. There is a perennial shortage of 25 lakh blood units. Out of six lakh units, 60 per cent is donated by volunteers,’ said Bhatia.
Delhi and National Capital Region [NCR] require 7 lakh to 8 lakh units of blood a year [around 40,000 units of blood each month], but get only 4 lakh to 5 lakh units.
‘Over 75 per cent of our donors are students in schools and colleges. With most educational institutions on holiday at this time, there is a huge shortage in supply. During summer if we target 100 volunteers, only 30 turn up,’ said a senior official of the Indian Red Cross Society [IRCS].
According to him, blood in India is also being used irrationally.‘One unit of blood belonging to the same group can be used by three different patients, but we don’t do that. Though there is a dearth of blood during summer, many blood banks waste human blood by at least 30 per cent,’ said Bhatia.
Most of Delhi’s blood banks face a shortage particularly from April to August, as many of these rely on student donors.
‘As schools and colleges shut for summer vacation, there is a sharp fall in blood donation camps during summer. The blood banks run out of blood and its components, right from the month of April till August,’ said N K Bhatia, medical director of Jan Jagriti Blood Bank of Delhi.
‘There is shortage of blood during summer. Though we keep in touch with the blood banks in and around Delhi and NCR region regularly, every year during April to July we need to hunt for Aditya’s blood group A-negative as we need fresh blood to create components and A-negative is a very rare group,’ said Seema Chopra, Aditya’s mother.
Thalassemic patients between the age of one and five years need one unit of blood every month; between the ages of five and 10, two units every month; between the ages of 10 and 15, three units; and an adult Thalassemic needs four units of blood every month.
‘India requires 90 lakh units of blood every year, but the country manages to get only six lakh units. There is a perennial shortage of 25 lakh blood units. Out of six lakh units, 60 per cent is donated by volunteers,’ said Bhatia.
Delhi and National Capital Region [NCR] require 7 lakh to 8 lakh units of blood a year [around 40,000 units of blood each month], but get only 4 lakh to 5 lakh units.
‘Over 75 per cent of our donors are students in schools and colleges. With most educational institutions on holiday at this time, there is a huge shortage in supply. During summer if we target 100 volunteers, only 30 turn up,’ said a senior official of the Indian Red Cross Society [IRCS].
According to him, blood in India is also being used irrationally.‘One unit of blood belonging to the same group can be used by three different patients, but we don’t do that. Though there is a dearth of blood during summer, many blood banks waste human blood by at least 30 per cent,’ said Bhatia.
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