India still struggling with a huge shortage of blood and donors

While Thursday is World Blood Donors day, the tragedy is that in India we are still struggling with a huge shortage of blood and donors, especially when most required.

For instance, four-year-old Krishnapriya suffers from Thalassemia, a medical condition that requires her to get regular transfusion of blood.

She needs one unit of O+ve blood every 25 days, and arranging that each time is a nightmare for her parents as there is a chronic shortage of blood.

When an NDTV team accompanied the parents to the government-run Niloufer Children's hospital, the attendant at the blood bank asked them to wait, after two hours, the duty doctor informed them that blood was not available.

The next stop was a private blood bank. The staff over there demanded Rs 800 for a unit of blood and even that would be given only if a donor was provided to replenish the blood stock.

''Unless you bring a donor of the same blood group, we can't give you blood,'' said Staff, Blood Bank.

Finally, the family visited a corporate hospital, where Jayashree, Krishnapriya's mother, managed to get one unit of blood for Rs 1150.

''Government hospitals are never of any help. Private hospitals ask up to Rs 2000. Middle class people like us can't afford that much money. And even if we buy from private blood banks, we fear the blood won't be safe,'' said Jayashree, Krishnapriya's Mother.

According to estimates, Andhra Pradesh requires at least nine lakh units of blood a year.

But blood banks get less than half the requirement, and the number of donors reduces further during the summer.

''We should include information about blood donation as a part of the curriculum in colleges and even at the level of schools. If the government does that, at least a section of people will be motivated,'' said Dr Raghava Reddy, Medical Officer, Red Cross.

Last summer in Hyderabad, apparently the price of a unit of B-ve blood touched up to Rs 4000.

Doctors say that if one regularly donates blood from the age of 18, then that could help out at least 120 people.

Clearly everyone needs to play their part to ensure that those in need of blood are taken care of. Read more news from: http://www.ndtv.com/