‘Blood donation activates bone marrow, prevents heart attacks’

Nagpur: Grappling with the perennial problem of blood shortage amid dengue season, doctors from the department of pathology at both state medical colleges have called on citizens to donate blood at least once a year. They said that in last two years blood donation was subdued to a large extent due to Covid infection, but now citizens must come forward in big numbers to save lives.
The doctors said that bleeding is like “detox” and saves one from many fatal diseases. Both the government blood banks said they have stock for two days on a rolling basis and sometimes they have to send back relatives.
A total of 22 bags of platelets were available at IGGMCH as on Tuesday morning. The availability came down to single digit by evening. Besides dengue, platelets are needed for malignancy, septicaemia, and post-operative patients.
Last year, the Covid infected were not able to donate for 28 days after recovery, while many were fearful of bleeding at hospitals due to Covid.
Dr Vasant Khowe, head of pathology department at IGGMCH, said a figure of 22 platelet bags in a day is a good number. “Its shelf life is just four days. We can’t preserve it like whole blood, which can be stored up to 35 days. We had 120 blood bags. This has come down to 88 on Tuesday. This is how the availability keeps changing every day,” he said.
Khowe said the department also has single donor platelet machine, which makes six bags of platelets from one donor. Khowe added if dengue surges, then any amount of available bags are going to fall short. Sometimes a severe dengue patient needs six bags platelets at one go.
GMCH, IGGMCH, and Daga Hospital have been coordinating among themselves to meet the demand.
Dr Pradeep Butele, head of pathology department at GMCH, said so far demand for platelets for dengue patients is not much. “Today, we have 44 platelet bags. But it can’t be guaranteed if these are enough. If we need more bags of a particular blood group, it becomes difficult to arrange them,” he said.
The doctors lamented that those who can donate are reluctant to do so. Relatives of patients coming to these hospitals are also reluctant.
Dr Butele said bone marrow gets activated due to blood donation. “Bleeding cuts toxins and also brings haemoglobin under control among smokers. Blood donation is a treatment for smokers. Blood clots are prevented and thereby heart attacks too,” he said.
Dr Khowe added that the amount of blood donated is restored in the body within 24 hours.