People rise to occasion, rush to donate blood

NEW DELHI: Soon after the blast, the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital’s blood bank was flooded with calls from across the city and NCR to check if there was any shortage of blood. By afternoon, the blood bank saw an unusual rush with people coming from various parts of the city to donate blood. According sources in the hospital, nearly 30 people had turned up to donate blood.
Forty-eight-year-old Kuldeepak Virmani, an executive with a leading firm, came all the way from Rohini.He had also called his friends to RML. “We came to know that there was a shortage of blood at the hospital, and so I rushed here. I have a meeting to attend in Nehru Place. I’ll go there later,’’ said Virmani.
Similarly, Anubhav, 21, who is preparing for higher studies, had come with his friend Akshay. With most of the blood bank staff busy in operation theatres, people had to wait for long. “We have been waiting here for nearly one hour for our turn to come. We understand that the hospitals staff is busy arranging blood for the victims, and so we don’t mind waiting,’’ said Anubhav.
Despite hospital staff telling people that there is no shortage of blood, most of the people preferred to stay back and donate. “We got to know that only seven people had come here to donate blood since morning. There is no shortage of blood, but we still plan to stay back and wait our turn. It might help other accident victims,’’ said Mahesh Shastri, a graphic designer, who had come from East of Kailash.
According to a senior doctor at the blood bank, “There is no shortage of blood. About 30 people have so far turned up to donate blood.”
With close to 17 victims getting operated at RML Hospital, the blood bank had already supplied more than 50 units of blood to the operation theatres. “Since most of the patients were critical and had to be immediately rushed to the operation theatres, we carried out instant matching of blood samples in the operation theatres,’’ said a doctor.