Blood bank seeks more donors as it closes in on golden jubilee

MADURAI: The

blood

bank at the Government Rajaji hospital continues to be a hit with the blood donating public in Madurai as it nears its golden jubilee of inception. Around 25,000 units are collected a year and more than 60,000 patients in the region benefit from the blood donated to the

bank

every year.


According to the head of the department of transfusion medicine, Dr M Sintha, Madurai blood bank was in need for more donors as it supplies blood to many hospitals in the region. “If more people come forward to donate, it could help save many lives. The bank organises many camps annually to collect blood and as many as 300 camps were conducted in 2017,” she said.

Dr Sintha pointed out that the state-of-the-art blood bank had the facility to store 3,000 units at a time and was equipped with the latest equipment, including walk-in chambers. They also had an automatic component separator machine and soon plan to have single donor

platelet

apheresis, where only the platelets can be taken from the donor and not the red blood cells. This could be beneficial during specific disease outbreaks like dengue, where one unit of platelets would equal four units of pooled blood.

She said that the mobile blood bank of the hospital had a fully-equipped air-conditioned bus which went to the doorstep of the donor and collected blood when it was donated in groups. District collector K Veera Raghava Rao, who flagged off the voluntary blood donation awareness procession on Thursday, indicated that the public could utilise the facility to donate on special occasions like anniversaries and birthdays.

People can approach the Madurai blood bank and book the vehicle in advance, when they will be informed about the various criteria to be fulfilled by the donors. Any healthy person in the age group of 18 to 60 could donate blood.

The vehicle had the facility to receive blood and store it and bring it to the bank in the evening. A single donation takes about 10 minutes and a person can donate blood every three months. The mobile bank had the facility to bleed four donors at a time and as many as 120 units could be obtained in a day.

The blood bank is aided by the Blood Donors Club of Madurai Medical College(MMC), one of the oldest clubs of its kind in the region, and also social organisations including Vaa Nanbaa, Thirunagar Pakkam and individuals.

Club secretary A Janarthanan said that their club was constituted a few years after the blood bank began at the GRH. They also helped other institutes conduct camps. ``Blood donation also has an indirect benefit, as the blood is screened before it is stored. This informs many donors of a disease that he or she may not be aware of and helps get it treated on time,’’ he said. Collector K Veera Raghava Rao also inaugurated the blood donation camp at the GRH in the presence of dean Dr D Marudhupandian.