Bombay blood group donor’s meet

On 10th January 2016 we had the 5th Bombay blood group donor meet - the get together of the every special people who have the Bombay blood group. The meeting provides a unique opportunity for people with this rare blood group to come together and deliberate upon issues related to the donation, requests and management of Bombay blood group. The regular donors are happy to see each other and the volunteers who they interact with telephonically. It also enables the new members of the community to feel greater comfort in company of many people who share their blood group. The meeting is also an opportunity for Team Sankalp to share with all the donors what is being done to ensure that each patient in need is provided with adequate and timely supply of Bombay blood group even as the tenets of safe, judicious and rational use of blood are upheld. In the meeting the performance metrics related to the Bombay blood group network were shared. We also had discussion on some blood requests were unique challenges were faced and the group discussed the efficacy of the strategies and means employed to handle such situations. Mr Harsha Archak, one of the regular voluntary Bombay blood group blood donor shared that such discussions based upon data and statistics about donations, challenges and remedies carry a solid message to the audience while also providing them information. One of the key discussion in the meeting was the progress made with the usage of blood units available on the shelf in various blood banks. More blood requests are being handled making use of these units. There was a discussion on how one unit can help in several blood requests because many times the unit is needed just as a backup. Mr Uday Kumar shared that best utilisation of the available units was the way forward. The issue of tremendous emotional pressure on donors when the families are in direct contact with them was also discussed. When a family is in need of the rare blood group, very understandably all family members want to do whatever is at their disposal to help the patient. Nevertheless, this leads to inflating the blood requests and mismanagement of donations. The need and importance of having clear communication with the treating physician about the requirement and the possible strategies to organise for blood was deliberated upon. Often several units of blood are organised for the patient but many of them remain utilised. Unfortunately, sometimes the hospitals fail to report the unused units in time to the network to enable using them for other patients. The network has decided to strengthen further the follow-up with the hospital to ensure that the unused units are not wasted. Team Sankalp was happy to share the outcome of the strategy to expand the network to the four southern states. Now the network is receiving almost every other request from outside Karnataka. Together Telangana and Andhra Pradesh seem to have enhanced their participation in the network substantially in the last 1 year. In-fact one of the key takeaway of the planning stage of this meeting was to organise the Bombay blood group donor’s meet in other cities where a lot of donors are participating on a routine basis. The need for greater awareness about Bombay blood group in the population by engaging mass media and government agencies was also felt. Donors informed that they find it difficult to get their correct blood group printed on the identity cards, licence etc. because the systems are not designed to include the Bombay blood group. Modern strategies and technologies which minimise the use of allogenic blood were also discussed in detail. The donors were made aware of the options of using erythropoietin, autologous blood donation etc. Keeping an eye on the increasing demand for platelets there was also a discussion on platelets apheresis. The participation and support of all the donors is commendable. Infact everyone felt the need to meet more often and at least twice a year. In all, 8 donors were able to participate in this meeting. With best wishes Mr B S Shridhar expressed satisfaction at the fact that the group is taking better shape year by year. We would like to thank Rashtrotthana blood bank for providing a centrally located and comfortable venue for the meeting. With ever increasing number of blood requests, strengthened network, and, more donors there is a lot of work and responsibility on the network. Working together, we will surely win over every challenge which comes our way. Thank you.