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Written By: Agencies | Published : June 28, 2014 2:25 PM IST
Most blood type falls into the four basic blood groups: A, B, O and AB. However, within these there are 400 other groups or variable factors that further determine the exact blood type by identifying specific characteristics of blood. Hence, people with rare blood groups face a daunting task to find donors with matching rare blood types. As a step to facilitate availability of rare blood donors, Department of Transfusion Medicine, Medanta The Medicity, has put together 'Rare blood donor registry' with the database of 450 active 'completely phenotyped' rare blood donors.
Speaking at the felicitation event, Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman & Managing Director, Medanta The Medicity, said, 'Unavailability of blood or availability of poor quality of blood during emergencies can become a huge burden on the society. It is essential not only to have sufficient blood supply, but also to have a safe supply in the country. At Medanta, and even other hospitals, safe blood is an issue. For this, we have provided high quality training for blood donation/banking and transfusion to our staff. Overall standards of blood donation and quality need to be changed. As mentioned today, rare blood donors are a boon to people with rare blood types. A rare registry of this kind will help us save many lives.'
He added, 'People need to come forward for blood donation. They need to understand that donation does not harm their body in any way, rather, it helps them. Donating blood 3-4 times a year is absolutely okay. It is the simplest way to gift someone a life.' An average human body contains 4-6 liters of blood. A loss of more than 30% of this volume due to accidents, surgeries or any other casualties can turn fatal. In case of emergency requirement of safe blood, regular voluntary donations are important for saving lives. For people with rare blood groups, this becomes more important.
There is a paucity of finding rare blood donors mainly due to lack of awareness among blood donors as well as insufficient testing and donation services in most of the Indian states. With the help of such a donor registry, healthcare professionals can easily screen and save rare blood units for those patients who specifically require them and provide a safe and adequate blood supply.This unique initiative by Medanta Hospital will definitely help save several lives at critical moments. The event was supported by Ortho Clinical Diagnostics.
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