At a time when the supply lines are running dry with potential donors stuck indoors due to the nationwide lockdown, residents of New Town came together to help in the treatment of a seven-year-old afflicted with cancer.

On March 31, the young leukaemia patient needed a bone marrow transplant at Tata Memorial Hospital for which he needed 18 units of blood which neither the hospital nor the family could arrange. Arunangshu Chakraborty, consultant, anaesthesia and critical care, at the hospital was off duty that day but sent out an SOS message in a local residents’ WhatsApp group as well as his own complex (Elita Garden Vista).

“At our hospital, we do not accept blood from elsewhere as we are never confident about the quality. We undertake intense testing before accepting blood in our own bank which is not the case elsewhere. Our patients need blood in large volumes during operations as also for transfusions. They are encouraged to bring donors with them. But in this case it was impossible for the family to arrange,” he explained.

Within hours, nine people responded, driving down to the hospital on their own. The others were asked to come the day after.

Tapas Adhikary of CD Block was one of them. “I got the message in our WhatsApp group of blood donors and immediately drove off to the hospital. A couple of people, I heard, had already donated and left. A gathering was not advisable in such a scenario,” he said.

Gautam Bhadra of Greenwood Sonata, another donor, was impressed to see a mother of nine-month-old twins waiting to give blood to the seven-year-old. “None of us knew the child or met his parents but it was great that we could still come forward and do the needful for a humanitarian cause,” Bhadra said.

The child is still in hospital under treatment, sources said.