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Covid-19: With hardly any donations, blood banks run dry in Kolkata
Those looking for blood are being asked to get donors of the required group. However, getting donors has become a problem because of the lockdown.
Almost all blood banks in Kolkata have run out of stock as donation camps have not been held in two weeks following the Covid-19 outbreak.
Those looking for blood are being asked to get donors of the required group. However, getting donors has become a problem because of the lockdown.
The state health department has advised hospitals to keep planned operations on hold and attend to emergency cases, health department officials said.
Apart from those in big state-run hospitals, most blood banks in Kolkata are privately run. In the districts, private nursing homes procure blood from the state general hospitals.
“All blood banks from where we procure blood have run dry. We have completely stopped planned surgeries. Blood is necessary for cardiac surgeries, cancer surgeries and even caesarean deliveries and these procedures cannot be delayed indefinitely. The government must organise blood donation camps in a restricted manner,” said Dr Kalyan Kar, head of surgery at the Mukundapur unit of AMRI Hospital, one of the biggest private hospital chains in the state.
“Under the present circumstances, it is not possible for the families of all patients to get donors,” Dr Kar added.
“We have no blood in stock. People looking for blood have to get donors. We are only testing their blood and drawing one unit as per rules. For people looking for several units, it is a huge problem,” said a spokesperson of Ashok Blood Bank in Kolkata.
“We have nothing left in stock. If this shortage persists, people will be in trouble,” said a spokesperson at Life Care, blood bank in Kolkata that remains open for 24 hours.
“The crisis started soon after donation camps stopped,” said a spokesperson of Bhoruka Research Centre.
“To conduct operations at my department we are drawing blood from donors,” said Dr Arunava Sengupta, head of the ENT unit at SSKM Hospital, the biggest state-run multispecialty hospital in Bengal.
Responding to the crisis, some officers of the Kolkata Police donated blood on Wednesday.
