Govind Sharma
JAMMU, May 7: The reserves at blood banks of Government Medical Colleges and other major Government Hospitals in Jammu province is depleting fast as voluntary donations have dried up due to ongoing restrictions on the movement of people during the lockdown and apprehensions over transmission of Coronavirus.
Official sources told Excelsior since imposition of lockdown, voluntary blood donation dropped to almost zero in Government Medical College (GMCs) of Jammu, Kathua, Rajouri and Doda, besides other hospitals like SMGS Hospital and Gandhi Nagar Hospital in Jammu and other District Hospitals.
“Many people wanted to donated blood but due to restrictions they avoid to come for blood donation as they have to face harassment at several places by the security personnel and also the public transport is off the roads due to lockdown. The curbs have also stopped voluntary bodies from organizing blood donation camps,” they added.
Sources said even replacement donations have witnessed sharp fall as relatives and friends of patients hesitate in donating blood due to fear of Coronavirus. They said it is completely safe to donate blood but many donors do not want to understand and have their own apprehensions.
On the condition of anonymity, a doctor of GMC Jammu said that earlier they received about 500-600 units of blood through donation camps every month but after lockdown they are not being allowed by the district administration to hold camps in view of the social distancing norms.
He said presently there is negligible stock in blood bank of GMC Jammu but they are managing their day to day affairs by taking replacement donation from the patients’ kin but in rare cases when they did not get replacement or requisite category of blood, they contact NGOs which send their volunteers for donating blood.
“The blood bank of the Hospital used to distribute over 200 units of blood and its components daily to patients of the hospitals. In 80 % of the cases blood units were given only after receiving equal units in donation. However, in 25% cases, including in thalassemia, leukemia and in emergency, blood units were given without seeking the donation in exchange. For these 25% cases, the bank has to maintain a buffer stock of 400 units donated voluntarily by people. This donation has now dropped to almost zero since imposition of lockdown,” he added.
A doctor in SMGS Hospital also expressed concern over depleting reserve of the blood bank of the hospital. “Though hospitals have stopped all elective surgeries, there is routine requirement for blood for thalassemia and haemophilia patients, oncology patients and cardiac surgeries, and people are suffering a lot to arrange particular group of blood for their patients as our stock is expiring daily,” he added.
He further informed that earlier they used to accept replacement of any group of blood from the attendants of the patient and provide them required group of blood but as their (Hospital) reserves are almost empty, attendants of the patients have to arrange blood of specific group on their own and in view of lockdown and resulted restrictions on movement, they have to suffer immense hardships.
Sources in the Government Medical Colleges of Kathua, Rajouri and Doda also expressed concern over diminishing blood stock in their respective blood banks. “Only few units of blood are left in the stock in our hospital. There is also an acute crisis of blood components like plasma and platelets. Our bank is totally depend on voluntary donations of the Army personnel as well as school or college students but due to lockdown no blood donation camps could be organized,” a source in GMC Rajouri said.
“The relatives of patients are donating blood, when it comes to delivery-related complications. Thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia patients have stopped coming in view of the lockdown as they need to go for blood transfusion only when they face a crisis like bleeding,” he added.
Sources in GMC Doda said that reserves of blood bank of the hospital are about to empty and blood donations are not coming but as accidents have declined and elective surgeries are not being performed they are not facing any major problem but a severe shortage of blood is imminent, if the situation continues for long.
“There is an urgent need to work out a mechanism to allow voluntary donations as blood banks of the hospitals across the UT are drying up. The voluntary as well as and replacement blood donations have both significantly gone down since the time of a complete lockdown,” a doctor of GMC Kathua said.
He said that voluntary organizations like Red Cross, Rotary Club, Young Blood Organization, etc which are the major blood resources, are also not able to hold any blood donation camps due to the lockdown, which is a cause of concern.
Ashok Verma, chairman of Young Blood Organization (a body of voluntary blood donors) said that they receive about 4-5 requests of donors daily from SMGS or GMC Jammu but due to restrictions on movement and public transport, their donors are facing problems to reach their destination.
He said earlier, they used to hold blood donation camps which help maintaining stock of blood in GMC Jammu and SMGS Hospital but due to Coronavirus pandemic, the UT administration has banned all type of camps due to which blood reserves of these hospitals have almost dried up and people are facing hardships to arrange bloods for their patients. He urged the UT administration to make arrangement for organizing safe and secure blood donation camps while maintaining social distancing.
Meanwhile, a senior doctor in Blood and Transfusion Department, GMC Jammu said, “GMC administration is trying to get blood donations by pick and drop services and issuing passes to voluntary blood donors. Blood Banks are trying to arrange indoor camps but as people are trying to avoid hospital premises so blood donations are less. Outdoor voluntary blood donation camps which are the main source of blood stock are not organized in order to keep the social distancing”.
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