Government hospitals say no, jawans go private to donate blood

COIMBATORE: In what appears to be a problem of plenty, Nilgiri-based jawans have been forced to look for private hospitals to which they can donate their blood as blood banks of district hospitals are reportedly almost full and the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital is constrained to only conduct blood camps within a 25km radius.

“A hundred jawans who completed their training at Defence Services Staff College Wellington, decided to donate their blood to mark the end of their training. We approached Ooty and Coonoor government hospitals but their blood banks were almost full.

So we asked CMCH to conduct a blood donation camp in Nilgiris. However, officials said that they cannot conduct such camps beyond the district limits. So now we have been approaching some other private hospitals and some are willing to come forward,” said Captain K R Mani, chairman Indian Red Cross society, Nilgiris. 

“We approached CMCH as they have blood separation facilities. If they relax their conditions, they will get a good response from donors,” he added.CMCH authorities maintained that they cannot conduct blood donation camps beyond their district limits and pointed out that there were four government hospitals with blood banks in Nilgiris. 

“They should have the camp conducted by their own district hospitals else it is a violation of norms. We have been advised to conduct blood donation camps only within a 25-kilometre radiance,” officials said.
“We need to separate the blood within six hours of collecting the blood. This is not possible if we travel to other districts. Further, if we conduct blood camps in other districts, it will affect the local hospital,” explained B Asokan, Dean CMCH.