PUNE: Maharashtra has recorded a severe drop in the number of blood donations, a crisis being made worse by its rising Covid caseload, a flurry of curbs and post-vaccination protocol.
Data from the State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) showed the state currently has a reserve of 25,179 units of blood, compared to the 46,469 it had on March 10. The reserves may last just five to seven days, but state officials said they are confident of getting more donations.
Maharashtra's daily requirement of blood is 3,000 to 5,000 units. Dr Arun Thorat, director of the SBTC, said the districts worst affected by the shortage are Pune, Mumbai and Nashik.
He said, “Every year, during April, May, June, October and November, we see a drop in blood donation camps mainly due to high summer temperatures and school holidays. But this year, the shortage has been more severe, due to the pandemic’s caseload as well as the vaccination protocol.”
Post-vaccination guidelines state recipients cannot donate blood from the day of the first jab and not until 28 days after the second dose.
As for the impact of curfews, another SBTC official said the weekend restrictions have been particularly problematic.
“Most of the blood donation camps are held on Saturdays and Sundays,” the official said.
Dr Thorat said the SBTC has now asked all donation centres as well as social, religious and political groups to help avert a shortage during the key months of April, May and June. “Certain rare blood types are also in short supply. Available reserves may last five to seven days, but that does not mean we’ll be completely out after that. Efforts are on to organise more donation camps and there will be regular addition to the stock,” he said.
An official source said Pune is seriously short on red cells too, which is given to patients with anemia, trauma and during some surgeries. “Last year, we used to have 500 to 1,000 red-cell bags at each blood centre at any given time. These days, the figure is not more than 100 at any centre,” the source said.
Dr Purnima Rao, senior consultant with Sahyadri Hospitals and secretary of the Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology (ISBTI), Maharashtra Chapter, said, “It was a difficult task to collect blood during the pandemic’s peak in 2020. This can be gauged from the fact that collection in 2020 stood at 2.04 lakh units as against 2.2 lakh units in 2018 and 2.34 lakh units in 2019 in Pune district. The shortage is being felt this year too, especially after the rise in Covid cases. But many social organisations and other groups are coming forward in these difficult times to organise camps at regular intervals.”