For many reasons, the district of Gulbarga has very poor performance when it comes to Voluntary Blood Donation. On a deep down analysis made by Sankalp's Rakta Kranthi it was realized that not only are awareness levels lower than any other part of the state, but also the very attitude of people who can make a difference is slowly but surely sounding the death knell for voluntary blood donation here. An attempt was made. As a consequence, Sankalp decided to hold the next of its workshop under "Role Of Colleges In Taking Karnataka Towards Voluntary Blood Donation" @ Gulbarga.
Blood Donation Situation In Gulbarga
After Sankalp's initial visit to Gulbarga it was clear that the concept of Voluntary Blood donation is close to non existant in the district. Some very disturbing aspects came forth after interacting with blood bankers, hospitals, patients, college students etc. Here is a gist of what is really happening there.
- A major hospital based blood bank in the district claimed that from February to June they could not get any voluntary blood donation drives. They had close to 30 units in the beginning of the summer and managed with that for 4 months (by asking patient families for replacement). On further investigation, people in the blood banking community claimed that this was true every year during summer. They say that extreme temperatures there and the lack of motivation has dented the spirit of voluntary blood donation.
- Government based medical institutions are closed beyond 4PM and are not open on Sundays and other government and public holidays. Consequently they are available for blood donation drives in a very limited time frame.
- A small registration drive to register donors for emergency was conducted at a major engineering college in the district. Only 10 donors registered. Many of them were skeptical that their parents and guardians would be disappointed and angry if the were to donate blood!
Emergency Blood donations in the District
Data gathered from the Karnataka blood helpline, ( 9480044444) for Gulbarga indicates that in January 2012, the district had about 100 units of blood (units available off the shelf) on a daily average. This dropped to about 50 in February and never really crossed 60 from then till July 2012. Thus replacement was the norm and the misery of the patients during that period was painful to hear.
Even for an organization like Sankalp, that is working in the field of blood banking for close to 10 years, emergency situations in Gulbarga have been a nightmare. Although Sankalp never wants to see a case where a unit of blood needs to be replaced (rather the wish is to see plenty of blood donation drives making blood units available off the shelf always), there are situations when helplessness sets in and a replacement donor needs to be found. During such times, healthy relatives of patients too are skeptical about donating blood. They just become ignorant to repeated requests to donate blood and rather go on to put volunteers under pressure to get a blood unit. Somehow the concept of blood donation in general is too new and elusive to many people in Gulbarga.
Sometimes even a single negative unit cannot be found anywhere in the entire district. In April 2012, in a case where Sankalp was involved, a negative unit (Ab - ve) was required. After exploring and exhausting all options in Gulbarga it was decided to get blood from Raichur (that is about 4 hours by bus). Unfortunately, by then the life was lost.
But then we also need to realize that there are people there who can make a difference as well. Take for instance the case of a man who has the unique Bombay Blood Group. There was a patient in Bangalore who required Bombay group blood. After explaining the urgency of the situation, he was willing to donate immediately and even help in transporting it from Gulbarga to Bangalore. This simply goes to show that there is hope!
Sankalp India Foundation is working to tap this hope to improve things in Gulbarga. There is a need for a revolutionary change. With the district having a university of it’s own (Gulbarga University )which has about 100 colleges in Gulbarga and Yadgir , with more than 5 major engineering, medical colleges availability of potential donors is not a problem. Education and encouragement is lacking in these youngsters and the willingness to take the first step is lacking from concerned authorities of these institutions.
Workshop on the Role Of Colleges In Gulbarga
Sankalp India Foundation decided that an attempt has to be made to tackle the situation. On 8th September 2012, Sankalp India Foundation in association with NSS Cell, Gulbarga University held a workshop on the Role Of Colleges in Taking Karnataka towards 100% Voluntary Blood Donation and in particular addressing the pressing needs for more blood donation drives in Gulbarga.
A set of 50 colleges from Gulbarga and neighboring Yadgir district were identified to be a part of the workshop. A letters signed jointly by Sankalp and NSS Cell Gulbarga was dispatched to these colleges. All colleges were personally again invited via phone calls, mailers etc with a request to send in 1 teacher representative and 4 students from each college.
The workshop began at 9 AM with registrations. Each participant was issued a well designed kit. Each kit had manuals, brochures, pamphlets, posters, a copy of Sankalp Patrika, each of which had an abundance of information related to blood donation processes, the need for blood, eligibility criteria etc. More than 120 students and about 20 faculty members came in to attend the day long program.
After the national song, Vande Mataram was sung by participants, Dr E T Muttiah, the Vice Chancellor of the university inaugurated the program and stressed on the need for awareness of the requirement of blood in the mind of every student and public in general. Other dignitaries from the Syndicate of the university also gave their vocal support to such a program and thanked everyone involved in trying to enlighten students.
Lalith Parmar, President, Sankalp India Foundation then laid out Sankalp’s plan of action for blood donation drives in Gulbarga. Digging deep into the details of the Rakta Kranti program that is getting in lot more voluntary blood donation drives across the state, he made students aware as to how they can make a significant contribution in their region. He gave examples of other districts where students are driving in a change in their colleges. Comparing these students with them, he expressed hope that 1 year later the situation will be much better in Gulbarga.
Following this, a senior Sankalp volunteer gave an action plan for all colleges to plan and execute blood donation drives. The plan consisted of the following steps
- Creating a TeamRed in the college (that shall be sufficiently trained by Sankalp. All publicity and IEC materials to be given by Sankalp).
- This TeamRed to visit every class in the college, motivate students Register blood donors and create a database of donors that can be used for blood donation drives and emergency situations.
- Conduct a blood donation drive (that shall again be completely supported by Sankalp’s presence)
Apart from these aspects, eligibility aspects for blood donation, the right processes for pre, post and during donation care were all explained in detail to the enthusiastic students.
Since some faculty members were also present in this program, emphasis was laid on the fact that 2 blood donation drives (one in every 6 months) need to become a part of the annual curriculum and event plan of the colleges. Sankalp sent out an appeal to the college faculty representatives to not look at such drives as a burden on their academic schedule, but rather consider it to be their responsibility as definite steps and decisions from them can play a major role in addressing blood shortage in Gulbarga.
Dr Prasanna, Blood Bank Medical Officer of District Hospital, Raichur also came in to represent the blood banking community. He not only explained how important blood donation drives are in Gulbarga Raichur region(since these are major medial destinations to a host of villages and towns), but also went on to tell the students how shortage of blood units can be disastrous to the lives of thousands of people. He willingly answered the plenty of questions that were put forward by the students and suggested them to take the bold step of convincing their college authorities to organize frequent blood donation drives.
Finally, a certificate of appreciation was handed over to every participant. This certificate shall serve as an additional motivational factor for the students to work for the cause of voluntary blood donation.
Only sustained efforts by colleges, Sankalp and blood banks can improve situations in Gulbarga. A Blood Revolution is calling there, and a spark to has been ignited to start the revolution.