Bhubaneswar: The state is presently facing an acute shortage of blood, with blood banks at 10 hospitals, including the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, running completely dry, Tuesday.
As per information accessed by Orissa POST, apart from SCB, the SDH Baliguda in Kandhamal; NALCO Hospital, Damanjodi; DHH, Nuapada; SDH, Athamallik; Apollo Hospitals, Bhubaneswar; DHH Baripada; SDH, Dharmagarh; AMRI Hospitals, Bhubaneswar and NALCO Hospital, Angul had exhausted stock of the life-saving fluid by Tuesday morning.
Also, baring a few, many of the remaining 50 blood banks were having single digit stock that may prove insufficient in case of exigencies.
For example, DHH Khurda has just one unit of blood, while SDH Rairakhol (4), CHC Jajpur Road (3), DHH Paralakhemundi (3), SDH Gunupur (6), SDH Rairangpur (3), SDH Kantabanji (2), SDH, Champua (2), DHH Boudh (8 ), DHH, Puri (8), DHH Sonepur (3), DHH Keonjhar (6), CRCBC Cuttack (8), SDH Titilagarh (3), DHH, Jajpur (4) and DHH, Kendrapara (6) as stock.
Sources said with a total of 2,326 units, the 60 blood banks in the state are having just 10 per cent of their regular storage at present.
Top sources in the Health department said the situation looks precarious in the backdrop of the fact that the state requires at least 40,000 units of blood for various healthcare facilities every month (4-5 lakh units per year) for regular and scheduled transfusions. Hospitals in Cuttack city alone need around 4,000 units of blood every month, they said.
”Due to the present shortfall, we are also facing difficulties in administering blood to thalassemia (state has 17,000 thalassemia cases) and sickle cell patients who are solely dependent on blood banks for their regular requirements,” sources added.
While authorities attributed the long election season and grueling summer months for the present scarcity, organizations engaged in collection of blood alleged that the problem has been persisting since long in the absence of any policy framework.
Swaroop Das, Assistant Director, State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC), the apex body for operation of blood banks in Odisha, told Orissa POST that the present ‘deficit’ was on account of the ‘lean’ collection months. ”Blood collection took a beating during the three-four election months as donation camps were few. Moreover, during summer season people are often averse to donate due to heat conditions. Also, most of the schools and colleges (students constitute a majority of blood donors) were closed due to summer vacation,” he said.
Spokesperson of a voluntary outfit, which organises blood donation camps across the state, claimed that successive governments’ failure in streamlining the ‘voluntary act’ of blood donation through a defined policy and lack of incentives to donors were playing the dampener in the process.
He said situation has come to such a passé that patients at several hospitals are being fleeced by middlemen while arranging donors in exchange of getting transfusions. It is worth mentioning here that while ornagisations like Rotary Club, Lion’s Club and other voluntary/social groups are contributors to blood banks, the majority regular stock used to be supplied by volunteers of Odisha Mo Parivar. Meanwhile, despite several attempts, Health and Family Welfare Minister Mukesh Mahaling could not be contacted for his response over phone.
DEBASISH PANIGRAHI, OP