Stocks at blood banks across Assam, which had dipped for lack of donation during lockdown, are likely to benefit from relaxation in guidelines.
Fakrul Alam, assistant director, blood transfusion services, Assam State AIDS Control Society (ASACS), told The Telegraph that though the blood bank stocks are fast running out with donations coming in few and far between during the lockdown, the situation was slowly returning to normal.
“We usually have stocks which can last 15-20 days. Now, we have stock for only two days. After the relaxation of some lockdown norms, people have been coming forward to help the blood banks by organising donation camps , while maintaining social distance. The situation will further improve in the coming days as the health department has instructed to hold blood donations camps,” Alam said.
Assam requires 700 to 800 units of blood daily in the 33 district civil hospitals, but after lockdown, it was getting an average of 500 to 600 units of blood.
“There is a shortage of almost 200 units of blood daily during the lockdown,” Alam said.
He said the hospitals were able to meet the demand as the blood requirement was less owing to the lockdown. “The state did not face a severe blood crisis, as the demand was comparatively low,” he said.
Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), one of the biggest hospitals in the Northeast, requires 100-150 units of blood but it received 50-100 units of blood during the lockdown.
“As GMCH is no longer a designated Covid-19 hospital, the blood donors will increase in the next four to five days,” he said.
Assam has 11 two-bed blood collecting vans and one big four-bed van for GMCH, which are used for blood donations camps.
Touch of Humanity, an NGO that ferries blood donors, also said the rate of blood donation was comparatively less than usual.
“Donors are not willing to come out during this period. I received a call from a donor urging us to collect the blood from a place near his home. Earlier, we used to get eight to 10 calls per week from people willing to donate blood. The number has come down to two or three. There was a need for blood on April 15 for a major surgery at a certain hospital. I have two donors in hand for patients in B. Borooah Cancer Institute tomorrow,” the NGO’s founding member Hirak Jyoti Bora said.
The city requires 300 units of blood every day. Of this, 10 to 15 per cent comes through voluntary blood donation and 30 to 40 per cent from replacement cells of various blood banks.
ASACS and Assam State Blood Transfusion Council (ASBTC) on Saturday organised a blood donation camp on the premises of the office of the commissioner of taxes (Kar Bhavan) here.
The camp was inaugurated by minister of state for health and family welfare Pijush Hazarika.
Altogether 55 donors were screened at the camp. Out of them, 35 donated blood in a mobile blood collection bus stationed near the office.
Hazarika said such drives will continue throughout the state as five mobile blood collection vans are already placed at district hospitals and another five vans will soon be placed in various districts.
