The lockdown, which has pushed several blood banks into acute crisis, hasn’t been able to impact Jamshedpur Blood Bank, thanks to voluntary outfits and steel city do-gooders who kept the blood supply chain going.

On Sunday, Jamshedpur Blood Bank confirmed it had 1,300 units of blood that was enough to cater to the needy patients during the lockdown.

It also collected 70 units of blood (till the filing of this report) at a camp organised on its premises.

Jamshedpur Blood Bank is the largest in the Kolhan division and sees a demand of around 100 units per day.

Blood bank officials are all praise for the smart management and quick response by corporate houses and voluntary outfits that had scheduled blood donation camps during this time.

Although all the camps were cancelled following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown, the blood bank requested the donors to come and donate in limited numbers. Two vehicles were on continuous duty every day to ferry all those who faced difficulty in reaching the bank.

The blood bank had requested corporate houses and other organisations to keep sending their donors in a group of five. The bank has extended its working hours till 10pm from 5pm earlier.

Proper sanitisation protocol is being also followed across the blood bank, which includes use of sanitisers by donors and regular cleaning of the reclining chairs.

“We are extremely lucky to be in Jamshedpur where people are well aware about the importance of blood donation,” Jamshedpur Blood Bank secretary Nalini Rammurthy said.