On a busy day in a blood donation drive I was taking care of the pre-donation area. The room available for the camp was not very large so the registration and waiting area were organised in the corridor outside. A few donors patiently waited for their turn to donate while curious people walking across looked around.
Let us see what May had in store for us at Sankalp.
16 camps were organized in the month of June collecting 1171 units of blood.
While voluntary blood donation camps are improving in terms of their adherence to national and global standards are concerned, a major area which continues to remain neglected is that of donor counselling. Most blood banks do not have a trained counsellor to attend the drives and even those who take up the responsibility lack the necessary focus and skill. We share in this article the ethical and legal considerations in blood donor counseling as indicated in the Implementation Guidelines for Blood donor Counselling by World Health Organisation.
Prolonged blood transfusion therapy and anemia can cause cardiac problems. Cardiac problems contribute significantly to mortality and poor quality of life for thalassemia patients. Timely intervention can help prevent and manage cardiac complications and save the patient and the family from suffering and huge financial burden.Annual cardiac screening has been prescribed for all children with thalassemia major above the age of 12 years.
The news of a child being born with thalassemia devastates the family. More grueling is the struggle to find the way ahead for disease management. Each family was forced to wage their own battle and find their way through. The situation is most difficult for the poor and the illiterate parents.
On World Blood Donor’s Day, Department of Blood Transfusion Medicine, Bangalore Medical College felicitated Sankalp India Foundation for organizing regular voluntary blood donation drives . We have committed to the department on behalf of all the voluntary blood donors that there will be no shortage of blood.
We at Sankalp India Foundation get numerous blood requests. We are uniquely positioned in a sense that we tend to get the more difficult to manage blood requests - rare blood groups, difficult situations, timings, lesser known components etc. Over the years as the number of requests has increased, the good news is that we find it easier to handle the most difficult of situations.
Iron chelation is an important and very costly part of thalassemia management. Over last 3 years we have been monitoring and helping make better the chelation therapy for children with thalassemia. We share here the common mistakes which often go unnoticed.
India is the world’s biggest provider of cheap and affordable medicines to the developing world. Of course, most developing countries don't like that!
