In an attempt to create awareness, ‘blood stewards’ will visit various parts of the state in swanky buses and help people overcome apprehensions on blood donation.
The national health mission (NHM) has planned to launch mobile blood donation buses in Uttar Pradesh. The blood stewards involved in the campaign are not only trained but have pleasant personality as well.
“Till now, camps only focused on blood donation but now we plan to motivate people in all the districts of the state, particularly in rural pockets,” said mission director of NHM in UP Alok Kumar.
The buses are expected to be flagged off by July-end.
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{{/usCountry}}Making new donors in rural areas will help in weeding out the fear and myths associated with blood donation. Due to the myths associated with it, doctors often face difficulty in finding donors when a patient from rural area needs blood for treatment or surgery.
Buses are being prepared for the campaign and will be stationed at all the divisional headquarters in the state. It will have a month-long roster for movement. The vans will visit colleges, village panchayat, shopping centres and markets to motivate people.
The blood units collected by these vans will be provided to blood bank of the respective district to increase stock.
“If we are able to educate even 10 youths in a district in one round, we will be able to address the problem of poor voluntary blood donation to some extent. As the campaign progresses, we will be able to touch every village,” said Kumar.
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As per statistics, only 40% of the units in blood banks are voluntarily donated while the remaining comes as exchange from patients’ attendants. If voluntary blood donation is increased up to 80-85 per cent, no destitute or patient requiring blood transfusion will be refused blood.