The district administration may not have taken into account the supply of blood when it had assured uninterrupted flow of essential items during the 21-day lockdown period.

A possible shortage of blood has emerged as a cause for concern in the state capital.

“We were somehow managing to collect blood, but that too is difficult now,” said Atul Gera, founder of Life Savers, an NGO that organises blood donation camps.

On Friday, Gera conducted one such camp at Ranchi Sadar Hospital.

“The administration has issued passes to facilitate hassle-free movement of donors today (Friday),” Gera said, adding that they were expecting to collect 20 units at the camp.

Gera, who is also associated with the local Thalassaemia Association, said there were around 550 children who suffered from thalassaemia and sickle cell anaemia and come to the Day Care Centre at Sadar Hospital for blood transfusion.

“These children require around 750 units every three weeks,” Gera said, adding it was very difficult to maintain the supply chain unless donation camps are organised regularly.

He said the NGO used to collect around 450 units, but the lockdown had choked that supply channel.

“Even the patients couldn’t come for transfusion from faraway places. I really don’t know how those children from the rural areas are managing now,” Gera said.

He said the passes issued for Friday’s camp were valid for one-and-half hours.

“We asked the donors to come at different times so that there is no crowding at the camp,” he added.

The Jharkhand State AIDS Control Society (JSACS), which monitors the blood banks of the state, had also apprehended the possibility of a shortage of blood due to the coronavirus outbreak and advised voluntary organisations to hold small camps regularly.

A circular issued by JSACS project director Rajeev Ranjan on March 25 advocated “necessary precautions for screening and temporary deferral of donors with travel history to and from affected regions”.

It also asked organisers not to take blood from donors with symptoms of common cold, cough, fever, shortness of breath, besides those on antibiotics.

“The present situation has certainly reduced the flow of donated blood and may cause a shortage,” said Dr Shushma Kumari, the in-charge of the blood bank at RIMS.

She said many donors were also reluctant to go to a hospital now.

‘We have approached the JSACS project director to help organise special vehicles for donors at a convenient venue if required,” she added.