One thing that has changed for good at Indira Gandhi Institue of Child Health for the 130+ Thalassemia patients who come for treatment and care is that arranging for blood is no longer their problem while this ensures that they are not left to suffer making attempts to find a donor each month, paying for blood or getting blood from unsafe sources, there is another aspect. Now it is Team Sankalp which strives on behalf of these patients to ensue regular supply of blood.
In April 2012, when the shelves of IGICH blood bank dried up, the volunteers confronted a terrible situation. Several children had delayed their visits to the Day Care Centre because of the examinations that happened in March. The number of units required per child had also shot up because if low heamoglobin levels. Precisely at the same time the mechanism to maintain stocks at IGICH failed to deliver and we were left with long queues of children waiting for transfusions with no blood on shelf.
Immediate steps were taken to organize a few blood donations to tied over the shortage. What started as an emergency measure turned out into a full blown three week long team work to ensure regular emergency donations at IGICH. An alert was issued on facebook on 9h April which read "Urgently need about 20 blood donors to patch the shortage of blood we are facing for the children taking treatment for thalassemia at IGICH. If you are willing to donate blood on 9th to 10th April, 2012, please respond now!"
Unfortunately there was limited response. Thanks to Mr. Chandrakanth Acharya, Mr Brijesh Agarwal, Mr Vishnu Gupta, Manisha Hegde and Neha niharika who responded immediately. There was no way the team could have allowed the children to suffer. So a full blown donor plan to inform blood donors of the shortage and welcome them to donate blood at IGICH was launched. Over next three weeks, 45 blood donors came forward and donated blood at IGICH to help the children suffering from thalassemia. Several of these donors were from the donor pool which is being made for thalassemia, the donors who had donated in various Sankalp drives, people who had registered online and the friends and family members of Sankalp Volunteers. Thanks to these life saves, no parent had to go out looking for blood.
An exceptional contribution came from the 15 odd nursing interns. When Akshata, our Day Care co-ordinator decided to spread the word about the need in the hospital itself, the several of the nursing interns came forward and offered to donate blood. The young students patiently waoited in queues at the blood bank to ensure that the supply was maintained.
Even as Sankalp envisions a scenario where because units are already available on shelf always, unfortunately time and again, there will be situations where emergency blood donors will be called to save the day. With the great support and participation that we saw in the last month we are sure that what ever the need arises, the voluntary blood donors will rise up and save the day.
Great.