To curb wastage, state to regulate blood donation

A meeting to chalk out the finer points will be held at the Directorate of Medical Education and Research. Mumbai needs between 500-700 units every day, for which 25,000 donors are required every month. The blood and other blood components have a shelf life of up to 45 days

Mumbai: The state government is all set to formulate a policy for blood collection, to address the twin challenge of wastage after mega blood donation camps and shortage in blood banks. A meeting to chalk out the finer points will be held at the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) today.

There will be blood donation awareness campaign for which drives will be organised in all medical colleges on February 19 and inaugurated by the state medical education minister Girish Mahajan. According to the official from SBTC, Mumbai needs between 500-700 units every day, for which 25,000 donors are required every month. (Hindustan Times)

Interestingly, the move comes soon after a state-wide blood donation camp held on chief minister Eknath Shinde’s birthday on February 9, which garnered a huge collection.

Dr Deelip Mhaisekar, director of DMER said, “Plans are on to detail storage capacity and the district-wise requirement, which will help organise blood donation camps better.” Referring to a recent drive, a source at the State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) said, “We initially faced the challenge of storing the supply, which eventually got utilised. Mega camps are a good idea but there should not be any wastage.”

Dr Ajay Chandanwale, joint director, DMER, and in-charge of the project said, one of the key objectives of the policy is to identify the months when blood banks of medical colleges face shortage and organise camps in a manner round the year to plug the scarcity. “May-June and the time of festivals -- the vacation months are usually lean periods,” he said.

Additionally, there will be blood donation awareness campaign for which drives will be organised in all medical colleges on February 19 and inaugurated by the state medical education minister Girish Mahajan. “This is to ensure that voluntary blood donors go to the blood banks irrespective of the camps. Therefore, the sensitisation/ awareness programme will be launched by the minister,” added Chandanwale.

Welcoming the decision for the policy, Vikas Vira, from the NGO Tarun Mitra Mandal, which helps organise mega blood donation camps for the banks, said, “While holding them on politicians’ birthdays and other important days help create awareness, maintaining a calendar for the entire year on the basis of requirement, will ensure the banks do not experience a shortfall.” He called for a “sustainable model instead of one-day camps”.

According to the official from SBTC, Mumbai needs between 500-700 units every day, for which 25,000 donors are required every month. The blood and other blood components have a shelf life of up to 45 days. “Thalassemia children are the worst affected due to acute shortage of blood as they need transfusion almost after every 21 days. State’s plan for the policy is good news indeed,” said Vira.

Continuing in the same vein, Vinay Shetty, of the NGO Think Foundation, said, “We try to schedule blood donation camps in a similar manner throughout the year. We plan to have the camps in degree colleges in July-August and in professional colleges in February-March and August-September. We move to the corporate sectors in May-June and October-November. We try to make a success of this. It will be good if the government can achieve this as well.”