World Blood Donors Day special - making blood as freely available as glucose
Blood requirement is not a rare thing. In every few seconds, someone in India needs blood. Imagine a situation when a friend or relative of yours is in need of blood. You visit a blood bank. What are the possible ways blood will get arranged in the given situation? There are three ways, precisely.
In the first way, someone will come and donate blood for your relative and charge you money for it. He is a professional blood donor. You do not know him, his health condition or his medical history. Statistics prove that most professional blood donors are unsafe, and contribute greatly to infections and diseases spread through blood transfusion. This is the reason professional blood donation is a punishable offence in India, but unfortunately, is still in practice. Every now and then, we read and hear about cases where blood was donated by a donor who took advantage of the patient’s helpless situation and asked money against his blood.
The second way is through replacement. Since blood cannot be manufactured, blood banks often make rules of exchange donation to maintain the status quo of their blood stocks. When a blood bank asks you for a replacement unit, you either donate blood yourself, or ask one of your friends to come and donate blood. In exchange for the blood you donate, the blood bank gives you a pint of the blood your relative needs.
Replacement based blood is not 100% safe either. The donor might hide an ailment, an infection of his and donate. He might not be feeling well, might have throat infection or fever, but still carry on with the donation because life of your loved one is at stake. This needs a compromise with both safety of the donor and the patient the blood goes to. It is time taking too. Finding a donor, getting his health checked and the process of the donation can take a lot of time.
The third way blood can get arranged in the given situation, is when blood is handed to you by the blood bank from its shelves. You do not look for a donor, nor do you give them any unit in exchange. It is the most hassle free way of finding blood, and statistically, the safest too.
So how do you ensure you get blood from the blood bank’s shelves the next time you need it? Here are three simple steps to achieve it.
Donate blood regularly
With over 50,000 women dying every year during child birth, India accounts for the maximum number of maternal deaths in the world. India fares poorly in post-accidental care and relief too. Simple surgeries get delayed and complicated due to blood unavailability. Then there are blood disorders like sickle cell anaemia, thalassemia and haemophilia which require repeated blood transfusions. Children suffering from these undergo great troubles, and we often lose them due to repeated blood shortage and inconsistencies in their transfusion. We can certainly do better than this as a society.
During emergencies where time is a critical factor, it is always blood out of shelves and not that out of veins that saves lives. Unfortunately, in India, every year 12 million units of blood are required, out of which only 9 million units come off the blood bank’s shelves through voluntarily donated blood. Which means one in every four person looking for blood is turned down by the blood bank.
While we might want better blood banking facilities, deeper probe by the government in healthcare; blood banking remains one area of healthcare which is completely citizen driven. Even if blood banks come up with world class facilities, since they cannot manufacture blood, their shelves will remain empty if we do not donate blood voluntarily.
Anyone between the age group of 18 to 65, weighing above 45 kgs, and having a haemoglobin level of 12.5 or above can easily donate blood. The blood donated is less than half of the extra blood that your body does not need. You can and should donate blood every three months. Just walk into the nearest blood bank, roll up that shirt’s sleeve and donate. It’s completely safe.
Do not donate against goodies
Blood is priceless. This is precisely the reason blood banks do not charge for blood as a product but only applies service charges for the testing, processing and storage related to it. This is also the reason donating blood against money is illegal. It is equally immoral to donate blood against any goodies, even if it is a promise of getting blood in the future when you need it. The reasons are simple – donor safety and blood quality.As explained earlier, blood donated against direct or implied interest compromises with the quality of blood and the donor’s safety. You should donate blood only because you feel good and healthy, and not under any pressure. Blood donated without any interest or expectation is always the safest, bot for the door and for the recipient.
Medically speaking, blood donation is a safe process. Your health, haemoglobin level, blood pressure is checked thoroughly before you are allowed to donate, and the blood bag used and needle are disposable. The blood once collected is tested for many diseases including malaria, HIV, syphilis and hepatitis. Only when the blood is found to be safe, it is transfused to a patient.
Organize a blood donation camp
Enable more people to donate blood voluntarily. Call up your nearest blood bank and invite them to a blood donation camp in your institution, whether it is your college, company or housing society. Blood units collected in blood donation camps ensure blood banks break their status quo and have a good supply of blood for the next few days. This makes the city feel safe in terms of blood, and ensures critical emergencies are timely catered to.
The solution to every problem related to blood donation lies in donating blood voluntarily, and as frequently as possible. When blood is available in its shelves, it becomes logistically impossible for a blood bank to ask for replacements. Since blood has a shelf life of 35 days, beyond which it gets wasted, no blood bank wants to process, store, and test extra blood due to the cost involved. When blood is available from blood banks easily, replacement donors become irrelevant too.
Today, as we celebrate World Blood Donor’s day, we are also in the middle of the summer season. Summertime is dreadful for blood banks due to the sudden surge in blood requirements. It is this time when dengue creates a havoc; and blood, especially platelet demands reach record high. Colleges, which are the biggest source of voluntarily donated blood, undergo holidays. This worsens the situation for blood banks struggling to meet shortages. Summers are always the best time to organize blood donation camps. If your startup, company, NGO, or institution does not organize blood donation camps every three months, now is a good time to start.
As we celebrate World Blood Donor’s day, let’s ensure that we donate blood frequently, for the sheer joy of it, without expecting anything in return. Let’s also ensure we organize blood donation camps and share the joy of donating blood with others too. Either we can wait for emergencies to be created and donate blood; or as concerned citizens, probe into the processes and make blood as freely available as glucose. We can either reactively run around on streets when blood is needed, or proactively ensure that a situation like that never arises.
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