At GMC’s blood bank, daily donation camps help hospital meet high demand

Panaji: At New Year’s, when everyone is letting their hair down, doctors at the GMC’s blood bank are on tenterhooks, bracing themselves for the worst—road accident cases. The New Year 2025 started on a bitter note with Goa reporting four fatal accidents involving two-wheeler riders at Panaji, Taleigao, Bhoma, and Valpoi.

The blood bank, which serves as the state’s largest facility, manages approximately 100 units of blood daily, with 70% used at GMC, while also supporting private hospitals and around 100 thalassemia patients.

“We fear Dec 31 and the first week of Jan, and we are extra alert as many road accidents take place during this period. We make sure we have extra blood in stock. Since ours is a tertiary hospital, all major accident cases are referred here. If there are multiple road accidents, the blood bank is under tremendous strain, and we are forced to ask relatives to donate blood and call their relatives and friends,” said a doctor at GMC’s blood bank.

The GMC blood bank operates alongside other facilities at Asilo, Hospicio, Manipal, and Victor Hospital. The facility processes whole blood into three components — red blood cells, plasma, and platelets.

“On any given day, there are five thalassemia patients who require blood transfusion. The older children may even require two units of blood at a time. We also have pregnant patients bleeding after delivery and many alcoholic liver disease cases who require blood,” the blood bank doctor said.

Regular blood donation camps are crucial for maintaining supplies. While smaller camps collect around 15 units, larger ones can gather over 100 units of blood.

“There’s always a shortage of platelets as they have the shortest shelf life of five days. The RBC can last between 35 to 42 days, and the plasma can be stored up to a year,” the doctor said.

Platelets are essential for dengue patients and those undergoing chemotherapy, while RBCs are needed for thalassemic patients, accident cases, and postpartum bleeding cases.

“Often these relatives don’t complete their sleep requirement. If one donates blood without proper sleep or without a good meal, the donor may get a reaction—feel faint, giddy, face a blackout, or in severe cases even get seizures,” the doctor said.

Blood donation offers several benefits to donors. “Many times we detected people with high BP and low haemoglobin and referred them to the doctor,” the doctor said.



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