November 2015, Vol 5, Issue 11

Despite the festive season in October, many organisations came forth to plan blood donation drives. Sankalp organised 17 drives in October leading to a collection of more than 1350 units of blood. On a complications front, 3.4% of donors faced one sort of complication or the other. However, follow up was done with most of them and there is no reason for concern.

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has identified two major initiatives towards better utilisation of blood and blood components, as part of its commitment to ensure safe blood and enhanced access to blood products, on the recommendation of the National Blood Transfusion Council. The first step is permitting the transfer of blood from one blood bank to another. This was not allowed earlier and will help in transfer of blood to places of scarcity. Detailed guidelines for proper and efficient transport of blood between banks have been prescribed.

Recently, I was given the opportunity to do what I love the most to organise a Team Red training for students who were planning a blood donation camp in their campus at J.S.S.K.H. Kabbur Institute Of Engineering, Dharwad . Team Red is a team of volunteers who shoulder the responsibility to being in awareness and education in their campus and assist in the smooth execution of a blood donation drive.

Offering HLA typing far and wide We started on a journey traveling the length and breadth of the country in the month of October to reach out to families suffering from thalassemia who have never explored the option of cure. The prohibitive cost of HLA typing makes it out of reach for most families and thus the option of cure is also far from being explored. Sankalp India Foundation is committed to enabling cure for children suffering from thalassemia.

The importance of the blood donor questionnaire form in blood donation cannot be over-emphasized. Besides, the demographic and identification related information, the donor form has questions which impact both the safety and well-being of the donor himself or that of the patient. It is also the instrument to capture informed consent. The first and very important step in the direction of keeping both the donor and the patient safe is the blood donor questionnaire form. However, there are significant challenges involved in achieving the intended goal of the questionnaire.

Sundays have had a different meaning altogether for Project Samraksha, the Thalassemia Day Care Centre at Rashtroothhana Parishat. While the rest of the world enjoys their day off from work, the staff of the blood bank and the day care center put their best foot forward to work on their busiest day of the week. With the intention of causing minimal disruption to education and work for the families of children suffering from thalassemia. Samraksha continues work on the weekend. Individuals who need to come to the centre more often than the others are scheduled to come on Sundays.

(Dr Reshma Srinivas, stationed at Samraksha shares her experience) A Family from Koppal visited Bangalore. They came to the Samraksha day care for thalassemia, located in the premises of Rashtrotthana Parishat with Rakesh, a two-year-old child. At registration, his father told me that Rakesh is their second child and was diagnosed with thalassemia. He is on regular blood transfusions ever since. Rakesh has an elder brother Ramesh who is 4-years-old and a younger sister Shweta. As a part of regular questionnaire, I asked them if they are doing fine.