Mobile blood banks to make donation easy

  NEW DELHI: Not being able to make it to a blood donation camp? Don't worry. A state-of-the-art blood collection bus could soon park at your doorstep.
 

With India facing a major shortage of voluntary donated blood -- to the tune of 2 million units a year -- the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) on Friday flagged off a `moving blood bank' in Delhii that will park and organise impromptu blood donation camps. 

The bus, costing Rs 1.10 crore, was flagged off by health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. It is capable of collecting 300 bags of blood (each bag contains 450 ml) a day which is carried back to its parent blood bank. In the case of the collection unit in Delhi, the blood will be taken to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital. 

Over 32 such moving blood banks will hit the roads across all states over the next three months. While most states will have one such moving blood bank, larger states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu will have two. 

India has over 2,635 licensed blood banks and requires 8.50 million units of blood annually. Unfortunately, even though it has over 2.50 million voluntary donors, India collects only 6.50 million units. One unit of blood is 450 ml and half-a-litre of donated blood can help save three lives. 

Dr M Shaukat, joint director of NACO, told TOI, "Earlier, when we organised a blood donation camp, we had to first look for a school, then a tent house and finally volunteers. Now, the bus can go anywhere, stop and start a voluntary blood donation camp that can accommodate 200 people." 

He added, "At any given point of time, four donors can enter the air conditioned bus and donate blood. After donation, they will move to the refreshment section before leaving the bus. Every donor can donate blood once in three months. The collected blood will be taken to model blood banks under proper cold chain." 

According to WHO, less than 45% of donated blood is collected in developing and transitional countries, which are home to about 80% of the world's population. If 1%-3% of a country's population donates blood, it would be sufficient for the country's needs. But in 73 countries, donation rates are less than 1% of the population. In 2002, 63 countries were collecting more than 75% of their blood supplies from family and paid blood donors. This number had fallen to 38 countries in 2006. 

According to Dr Shaukat, NACO targets "that by 2012, 90% of all blood collected in India will be through voluntary donation". 

Secretary general of Red Cross Dr S P Agarwal had told TOI, "The use of blood components is also alarmingly low in India. The ratio of use of blood components to whole blood in India is 15:85. Globally, it is 90:10. India should also push for blood fractionation." 

More than 81 million units of blood are collected globally every year. WHO introduced the 100% unpaid, voluntary blood donation policy in 1997. Annually, unsafe transfusion causes an estimated 8-16 million Hepatitis B infections, 2.3-4.7 million Hepatitis C infections and around 1.6 lakh HIV infections. 

this article is taken from The Times Of India