Blood donation activists expecting brighter days

SILIGURI: A bottle of blood is a veritable life saver. And the whole country is indebted to the voluntary blood donors. This noble activism is expected to assume an even brighter shade - if the Government takes it into consideration the way it should.

“India’s annual demand stands at about 130 lakh bottles or units of blood. Against that, only 94 lakh units is the supply volume. The lion’s share of that comes through blood donation. The whole thing runs with a high negative balance that needs to be rectified,” said Mr. R. Rajkumar, Asian delegate to The International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations, Registered at United Nations' Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

"At West Bengal, the forerunner in this movement, the average monthly blood collection is around 80,000 thousand units, much less than what is needed. But the supply at national or state level keeps on fluctuating, sometimes pulling up the demand supply gap to an uncontrollable and unacceptable label,” said Mr. Biswarup Biswas, Secretary, Federation of Indian Blood Doner’s Organizations.

In order to ease the situation, a total of 68 organizations under FIBDO has placed a 23-point charter of demand to Central Government and discussed the issues with Dr. Sunil D. Khaparde, Deputy Director General, National AIDS Control Organization (NACO).

Stress was given on starting an integrated Blood bank automation system at national level. The other demands included inclusion of Blood Donation awareness in school curriculum at secondary and Higher secondary school level, establishment of transfusion authority to monitor, or most importantly 100% component separation facility in every blood bank with immediate effect.

“We don't know how far our hope will be fulfilled. But even partial fulfilment of these demands can give our country a brighter shade of life,” said Mr. Biswas.