The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Accent on efficient use of blood

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 25, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Accent on efficient use of blood

Government makes attempts to put blood banks online, says official

DONOR SUPPORT: Students of Sri Sankara Vidyashram receive a rolling shield at a function organised by Madras Voluntary Blood Bureau in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: Despite a good number of voluntary donors, blood banks feel the pinch from March to July because young voluntary donors cannot be reached, said K. M. Radhakrishnan, Special Officer, Department of Transfusion Medicines, Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University.

Addressing the 31st anniversary of Madras Voluntary Blood Bureau and the Association of Voluntary Blood Donors, Tamil Nadu, on Saturday, he said if we knew the actual demand of blood, we could bridge the gap.

Though Tamil Nadu stood third in voluntary blood donation, only 83 per cent of the blood collected came from voluntary blood donors. The rest was replacement blood received from relatives of those needing transfusion.

“Future donors from new institutions could be demarcated for the purposes of overcoming the shortage,” suggested J. Srinivasan, group director, TTK.

“The challenge is to use the blood we receive more efficiently while distributing. We need to supply components instead of fresh blood. It will also ensure safe blood,” said Supriya Sahu, Project Director, Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society. The Government was trying to put blood banks online to ensure help to a person in accessing a particular blood group in an organisation without much delay, she said and urged private blood banks to hold more camps instead of laying emphasis on replacement donors.

The India Bank will commemorate its centenary this year by holding as many number of camps as it can across the entire country, said M. S. Sundara Rajan, chairman and managing director of the bank.

Actor Delhi Ganesh and the other participants gave away rolling shields and memorial awards to various donor organisations that had over the past year encouraged people to donate blood.

For the 19th consecutive year, the Indian Bank was given a rolling shield. The organisation had the maximum number of donors in the non-industrial sector (large scale). It had so far encouraged 4,162 people to donate blood.

Tube Products of India was honoured for the maximum number of donors in the industrial sector (large scale). MVBB and AVBD honoured schools and colleges whose students had encouraged and had donated blood. Indian Air Force Station was honoured for the highest number of donors among government organisations.

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