Rims seeks donors as virus scare depletes blood stock

RANCHI: With its blood banks running dry, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) on Wednesday urged people from all walks of life to step forward and donate voluntarily.
An appeal was issued by the medical superintendent of Rims, Dr Vivek Kashyap, on Wednesday where he requested civil society members, government as well as non-government organizations and media houses to come forward and organise blood donation camps at Rims. The appeal comes in order to support ailing patients in need of blood at the state-run healthcare facility as blood donation has been affected badly due to the ongoing Covid-19.
Kashyap said, “It has come to my notice that several camp requests made by government bodies and NGOs are being cancelled owing to the coronavirus scare. Our requirement of blood continues to be normal and with no collection of fresh stock of blood cells, our stocks will run dry in the next two days. In order to continue uninterrupted services to the patients at Rims, we decided to make this appeal.”
Rims currently has 120 units of blood at its blood bank, of which, 80 have been kept for replacement by voluntary donors. The remaining 40 units are supposed to be provided free to patients in distress and with a requirement of around 20-25 units on a daily basis, the blood bank wouldn’t be able to provide blood cells for more than two days.
Sushma, the in-charge at Rims’ blood bank, said, “Around a dozen units are supplied for Thalassemia patients on a daily basis and 20 units go to patients admitted at several departments in need of blood. As our collection source has completely been cut-off due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, I request to come forward and donate blood so that we can continue serving patients in need.”