Written By: Tavishi Dogra | Updated : June 14, 2022 8:46 PM IST
Blood donation is a harmless act that saves millions of lives from untimely death. Voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors: those who donate their blood freely and without any reward for the people they might not even meet once in their lifetime are the foundation of a safe blood supply. There is a massive deficit in the demand and supply of blood, especially in developing countries. To bridge this gap, voluntary donation promotion is the sole saviour. Even if 1% of people come forward and donate blood voluntarily, that would suffice to bridge this gap considerably.
According to Dr Tejinder Kataria, Chairperson of radiation oncology Cancer Center, Medanta, The Medicity, "blood donation is a gift of life from one human being to another. The first successful human-to-human blood transfusion was performed in 1818 by an obstetrician James Blundell on a haemorrhaging patient during childbirth. In 1901, Karl Landsteiner identified human blood groups, making transfusion a safe practice. For example, women may need blood during delivery, children with anaemia (low haemoglobin level), trauma/accident cases, and patients undergoing cancer treatment or major surgery."
Blood is required for treating road traffic accident victims, burns, diseases like Anemia, Thalassemia, Sickle Cell disease, blood cancers and various types of surgical, medical and obstetric emergencies. However, the unavailability of blood may cost millions of lives, and continuous efforts must be made to motivate donors.
Fear of needles, fear of pain, fear of the sight of blood, fear of future weakness, fear of possible ill effects, ignorance and illiteracy are why many people hesitate to donate blood. All these myths and misconceptions must be removed by creating awareness among the prospective donors to ensure adequate blood availability.
Recent years have seen a higher awareness amongst the public due to the requirement of plasma therapy for recovered Covid -19 patients. Only about 300-450 ml of blood is removed from a donor at one donation, and it is a tiny portion of 6-7 litres of blood carried by a person weighing 65-70kg. This amount is reconstituted within a week, and a person can donate again after three months.
Donated blood is screened for transmissible viral infections like Hepatitis B and C, Cytomegalovirus and HIV and can only be transfused if the donor blood does not have the virus. Blood banks have been created in hospitals and by charity organizations like rotary to provide blood or its components on demand. The blood bank records all the donor blood groups and issues the required blood after matching the recipient's blood group to the donor blood group. Anyone below 60 years and over the age of 18 years can donate blood.
In addition to patient benefits, blood donation also provides health benefits to donors, explains Dr. (Brig.) Anil Khetarpal, Deputy Chief - Medical Services & Chairperson -Department of Blood Centre and Transfusion medicine Artemis Hospitals Gurgaon.
Let us come forward and make a difference by becoming regular, repeat, voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors and ensure a safe and adequate blood supply for society besides providing health benefits for the donor.
