Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

State has fewer regular donors

Thiruvananthapuram: Usha Titus, Special Secretary, Health, and Project Director, Kerala State AIDS Control Society, said here on Saturday that a model blood bank coming up on the Government Medical College campus here would play a major role in achieving total blood security in the district.

The blood bank is expected to be commissioned within three months.

Dr. Titus was speaking at a workshop on “Total blood security for Thiruvananthapuram district” at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology.

She said the model blood bank could give a boost to the voluntary blood donation campaign in the district and bring in experts in transfusion medicine.

Jaisy Mathai, convener of the workshop and Head of Blood Transfusion Services of the medical institute, said regular health screening was one of the biggest motivating factors for voluntary blood donation.

“Blood donation is given very low priority in the health-care system even now,” she said.

“As per WHO [World Health Organisation] guidelines, repeated voluntary blood donors should comprise at least one per cent of the total population in any given area. However, in our State, they comprises less than 0.5 per cent of the population.”

Rajan Medhekar, Additional Director-General of Police, Kerala Fire and Rescue Services, said blood security was the lifeline of any disaster management module.

V. Raman Kutty, Professor, Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, said though the quality aspect of blood donation had improved considerably after the AIDS threat, the quantity had not increased.

K. Mohandas, Director of the Sree Chitra institute, inaugurated the workshop organised by the Sree Chitra institute and the Indian Society for Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology Kerala chapter.

C. Balagopal, managing director, Terumo Penpol Ltd., was present.

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