City rushes to donate blood

Vikram Chandan, 19, a Girgaum resident, approached the Hurkisondas Hospital at Charni Road to donate bloods for the victims of the blasts on Wednesday. Zahra Gabuji reports.

Vikram Chandan, 19, a Girgaum resident, approached the Hurkisondas Hospital at Charni Road to donate bloods for the victims of the blasts on Wednesday. “I saw the news of the blasts on television and thought that the hospital might need blood donors,” said Chandan.

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Many citizens like Chandan have come forward to pledge their support at government and private hospitals and standalone blood banks to donate blood.

“We have received an overwhelming response from people who came to us for blood donation,” said Dr. Amit Suryawanshi, blood bank officer, JJ Hospital. “We have enough blood bags for now and will call them only once we feel there is a need.” Blood once donated cannot be stored for more than 35 days.

Officials at KEM and Hurkisondas hospitals also received many calls for blood donations on Wednesday and Thursday.

Vinay Shetty, vice-president of Think Foundation, a non-profit group that works for the cause of blood donation, said that if more people donated blood regularly, the city’s hospitals would not have to face shortages.

“We hope that people donate blood every three months and make it part of their routine and not just during an emergency,”

Officials at the JJ Mahanagar Raktapedhi, one of the largest blood banks in the city, said that the donor must fulfill some requirements in order to donate blood. They must be over 18 years, weigh more than 45 kg and have a hemoglobin count more than 12.5 g/dL (grams per decilitre).

“They should eat a heavy meal before donating blood. The donor must also share their medical history so that we can find out if they are fit to donate blood,” said Shivmangal Gupta, technical supervisor of Mahatma Gandhi Seva Mandal Blood Bank at Bandra.