BOND WITH BLOOD, MAKE DIWALI SPECIAL

Blood banks and hospitals face gapof 80% in the supply and demand of blood during the festive season as emergencycases go up by 45%

The festival of lights, which is celebrated with extraordinary fer vour in the city, also accounts for the highest number of emergency cases.During the period, the number of medical emergencies goes up by 45 per cent leading to an increase in demand for blood. Sadly though, during the six days of Diwali festivities, blood banks and hospitals see an 80 per cent gap in the demand and supply of blood.

Rashita, a 12-year old, suffered major burns while bursting crackers with her friends last Diwali. She needed AB -ve blood and to add to her trauma, it was not easily available as most registered donors were away on a vacation. If one analyses the data of 108 Emergency Service, the emergency cases this Diwali is likely to increase by more than 3,000 compared to last year. Similarly, most hospitals in the city witness a rise in the number of medical emergency cases like trauma, assault, burns and infections.

Talking to Mirror, Dr Ketan Patel, consultant and head, department of Emergency Medicine, Apollo Hospitals said, “The number of emergency cases increases by 20 per cent during this season. And 50 per cent are related to trauma, burns and accident.“ As most rural and semi-rural hospitals remain closed during the festival, burn patients are brought to city hospitals.

“On normal days, we receive around 60 units of blood per day but during Diwali, it goes down to 10 units per day when the demand of blood and its components are the highest,“ said Ravi Shankar, director of social services, Prathama blood bank.

Explaining further, Dr Vishvas K Amin, executive director of Indian Red Cross Society, Ahmedabad branch, said, “Plasma has protein which helps the burned skin to recover faster. Its demand is highest during Diwali.“ People with negative or rare blood groups have to suffer because only 2 per cent of the registered donors respond to the calls by blood banks during Diwali vacation.

Dr Sanjay Gupta, consultant and head, department of transfusion medicine, Apollo Hospitals, said, “During Diwali, as the number of accidents goes up, we need to arrange for rare blood groups and platelets to avoid last minute hassles.

Since Tuesday morning we have started calling up donors so that before they leave the city for vacation, they can take time out for blood donation.” Highlighting an interesting trend, Shankar said that people with rare blood groups have a misconception that they should donate blood only during the time of emergency.

Hence, they avoid donating blood at other times and patients with rare blood groups suffer. “During emergency, patients need blood within 30 minutes. And if the donor donates blood at the last minute, patients suffer as it takes six hours to separate various components of blood,“ said Dr Gupta.

That is why medical experts raised the demand to donate blood during this Diwali to save lives of people in emergencies.Siddharth Shah, a resident of Bhuj who often comes to Ahmedabad for business purpose, was at Prathama to donate blood recently. He said, “Blood is priceless and during Diwali, it can be the best possible gift to a needy patient.“

Anuj Kansara, a student who has been donating blood for the past five years, said, “I am out of town this Diwali. So, once I am gone, even if I get call from a blood bank for donation, I may not be able to help.So, I decided to donate blood beforehand.“