Many hospitals and blood banks in Kolkata said they are facing a high demand for platelets because a rising number of dengue patients are having a low platelet count.
At AMRI Hospitals, Dhakuria, 18 doctors, nurses and other employees donated blood on Friday to meet the high demand for platelets.
“With dengue cases on the rise, the need for platelets has gone up. Till last week, we were able to support patients who needed platelets, but this week we have run out of stock,” said Ritam Chakraborty, head, department of transfusion, medicine and blood bank at the hospital, explaining the decision for the doctors and the staff to donate blood.
The three units of the hospital chain had 62 dengue patients, including 11 children, on Friday.
At Belle Vue Clinic, the average daily demand for platelets has gone up from three to four units a day to 12.
“We are asking patients’ relatives to bring donors for platelets," said Pradip Tondon, CEO of Belle Vue. The hospital had 28 dengue patients admitted on Friday evening.
The health department guideline says a dengue patient should undergo platelet transfusion if the platelet count falls below 10,000 per cubic millimetre, provided there is no severe bleeding. If there is severe bleeding, the transfusion should start much before.
“In case of severe bleeding, platelet transfusion has to start irrespective of the count," said Chandramouli Bhattacharya, infectious disease expert at Peerless Hospital.
He said four dengue patients admitted under him had received platelets in the past month.
“Till Thursday there were 24 dengue patients. The number went up to 32 on Friday,” said Sudipta Mitra, chief executive of Peerless Hospital.
At the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, too, the demand for platelets has gone up.