Odisha train accident: 500 donors in 12 hours, blood bank turns volunteers away

The blood bank at the district hospital here was packed with donors through Friday night when hundreds of victims of the Coromandel Express accident were brought for treatment. On Saturday, authorities turned volunteers away as they had more than enough blood in stock.
Also See: Odisha Train Accident Live
Many donors were women from self-help groups across the district. “We have come from Remuna block (a neighbouring area) to donate blood as we heard many of the injured have been shifted here. We are a group of 50 women, and many more are ready to come,” said Anita Behera.
Dozens of youngsters queued up for hours on Saturday and many more were heading for the hospital. A staff member at the bank said, “In just 12 hours we have got more than 500 donors and we have a stock of around 1,700 units. We don’t require more,so we are requesting them to go back for now. ”
Security staff at the hospital said people started coming as soon as news spread that a large number of victims were being admitted there and blood might be needed for treatment.
Hospital staff said they needed less blood as most of the seriously injured patients were shifted to Cuttack andBhubaneswar. Dr Mrutunjay Mishra, additional district medical officer, said, “We were surprised as many youths made a beeline to donate blood here. We collected around 500 units overnight. ”
When TOI visited the hospital on Saturday, all the wards were full and railway officials were handing over ex gratia cheques to victims and their kin.