Hyderabad : Are you a Bombay Phenotype? If yes - you can give a new lease of life to a person. An urgent surgery is held up at the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) for want of this rare blood group.

The shelves of blood banks in the twin cities do not have the Bombay (Oh) Phenotype. The Department of Transfusion Medicine at NIMS is frantically trying to zero in on donors with this blood group. A look at its long list of donors dating back to 1977 shows that there are just 11 persons with this rare group in the State. Of them one donor is past 60 years and hence not eligible. The hospital has sent out SOS to the remaining, but there is no response yet.

Two units required

The patient, a 50-year-old women of Mandamarri in Adilabad district, is suffering from cancer of pancreas and needs an immediate surgery. "We need at least two units of blood to go ahead with the operation," says V. Saraswati, additional professor and head, Department of Transfusion Medicine, NIMS.

Her relatives have been tested but unfortunately they do not have this particular blood group. NIMS authorities have not given up hopes. They are trying to reach the known donors with this group. "May be they are out of station or have recently donated blood. We are trying to find out," says. Dr. Saraswati.

About 15,000 persons donate blood at NIMS every year but none of them are of Bombay Phenotype. Three years ago NIMS was faced with a similar emergency when it had to operate a brain tumour patient.

This rare blood group was then airlifted from the Tata Memorial Hospital, Bombay. The same thing could be perhaps done now, but the question is who will foot the bill. The patient now admitted at NIMS simply couldn't afford the cost, it is said.

Group background

This blood group was discovered by Bhinde et al in 1952. He found three individuals without A and B antigens but they were not group O either. This null phenotype was named `Bombay' as it was found here.

There are more than 20 genetically determined blood groups known today. But only about one person in 10,000 inherits a rare blood group.

The Bombay Phenotype is commonly found among the Parsi community and people around Bombay. Given its rarity, any one needing an urgent blood transfusion of Bombay Phenotype is considered simply unlucky.

Still hopeful

But authorities at NIMS are keeping their fingers crossed. They are hopeful that some one with a Bombay Phenotype will turn up soon.

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