Thalassemia patients suffering
Govind Sharma
JAMMU, May 18: Blood Banks across Jammu and Kashmir have been facing acute shortage of blood and whatever stocks are left with them, are depleting fast as neither any donation drive is being conducted nor donors are coming forward to donate blood during this COVID-19 crisis.
Official sources told Excelsior that there are about 35 Blood Banks across J&K including Government, private, Army and charitable. They said out of these, 16 are in Jammu division and 19 in Kashmir but all are facing acute shortage of blood amid the 2nd wave of COVID-19.
Sources said blood is needed on a regular basis for some people including Thalassemia patients who require regular blood transfusion. Besides, pregnant women undergoing c-Section, blood cancer patients and accident victims also need blood transfusion but as stocks of majority of the Blood Banks and blood storage centres in the UT have gone empty, patients are being asked to arrange blood themselves.
“Though the restrictions on the movement of the people during the ongoing second wave of COVID are not as strict as were during 1st Corona wave last year but the problem is that blood donation, which is the main source for Blood Banks to collect blood, is not happening,” sources regretted while stating that all men and machinery of the Government are busy in COVID mitigation efforts and no attention is being paid to this problem.
Sources said while major Blood Banks of the UT including those in Government Medical Colleges Jammu/ Srinagar and SKIMS Soura still have some stock for very emergency/trauma patients, most of the small Blood Banks based in District Hospitals are empty as in last 20-25 days, no fresh addition was made in their stock. “If the situation continues for some more time, it may become problematic,” they added.
They said that the higher COVID infection rate and mass vaccination drive started by the Government further deteriorated the situation as due to panic of COVID-19, even healthy people were reluctant to visit Blood Banks and donate blood and on the top of that Government came up with guidelines that a person vaccinated for COVID-19 can donate blood only after completing 28 days.
Amid shortage of blood, even Government Blood Banks are demanding replacement donors from the Thalassemia patients in need of blood while private banks are charging an exorbitant amount to give blood to such patients.
“We are helpless. Our stocks are almost empty. Even most commonly found blood groups are not available with us. In this situation, we have no option but to ask for replacement blood so that the same can be used in any emergency cases,” said an official of Blood Bank, GMC Jammu.
He said it is a big relief for them that all the elective surgeries have been suspended by the Government in all the Government as well as private hospitals otherwise it will have very problematic for them as no organization or trust is coming forward to organize blood donation camps in the ongoing COVID crisis.
Meanwhile, sharing his tale of woes, Prabhakar Singh of a remote village of Jammu district, said that he took his 10-year-old son suffering from major Thalassemia at Government Medical College Jammu but the officials there told them to arrange the blood on their own as their stock is presently empty.
He said amid restriction imposed by the Government on movement of the people in whole Jammu district, they struggled a lot to arrange a donor for O+ve blood but by the grace of God, they finally got a donor after a wait of two days. He said Government should conduct some blood donation camps to maintain the stocks of the major Blood Banks so that at least people suffering with Thalassemia and blood cancer do not suffer.
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