Country shows good signs and blood availability can be met soon: Experts
Tamil Nadu requires 9 lakh units of blood per year, but what is available is 8 lakh units. The state runs short of 50,000 to 1 lakh unit per year. But, this could be met in the coming years, say experts.
Chennai: At a time when public awareness about blood donation is increasing, the field of medicine is also developing at an equal pace with introduction of new technologies through which the number of beneficiaries can be maximised with minimal availability of blood. Experts in the department of blood transfusion medicine say that the country shows good signs and blood availability can be met soon.
“The method of collecting whole blood, in which all components in the blood are collected, has almost come to an end. At present, blood component therapy is being followed, in which three or four components – plasma, platelets, red blood cells and cryoprecipitate, are collected. These components are transfused into the recipient according to the requirement,” says S. Alexander, chief blood bank technologist and administrator, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Hospital.
Noting that patients were earlier transfused with whole blood with all the components, he says, “This would lead to other side-effects. When an anaemic patient, who requires red blood cells (RBCs) is transfused with the whole blood that has plasma and other components, the RBC gets diluted and more units of blood need to be transfused to the patient in order to meet the requirement of the RBCs.”
Doctors note that the blood to be transfused to a person undergoes a few basic tests for HIV, Hepatitis B and C and for malaria, but there are thousands of viruses for which blood is not tested. In this line, transfusing more units of blood to a person means the person is put to more risk, they add.
The Medical Council of India renews the college and hospitals only if the institutions hold blood component licence and so most of the medical institutions follow the blood component transfusion method. Dr Jyotsna Codaty, HoD, transfusion medicine, Fortis Malar Hospital, says, “It is always better to collect blood components, because, if a person donates the whole blood, s/he could again donate only after 3 months. But, donating a particular component, which is very good in a donor’s body, has different time to donate again. A person donating platelets can donate in the next 15 days. Also, collecting whole blood from hundreds of donors at a camp in an educational institutions or companies will have the same time of expiry, which could go waste if all is not used, she says.
Components can help many patients
“Almost all components of the blood is in demand in the state,” says Dr Deepti Sachan, consultant in-charge of transfusion medicine, Global Hospitals, who adds that plasma and cryoprecipitate are required for a patient undergoing liver transplant, while platelets and red blood cells are required for thalassemia patients and RBCs are transfused to accident cases initially.
The most commonly required blood is O+ve, which can be transfused to any positive or negative donor, she says, and adds that the most available blood is also the same since more people belong to this blood group. Explaining the availability of blood, health experts say hospitals in the state currently depend on blood banks.
They add, “Paid donors, called professional donors, are completely banned in the country since 1998 and many corporate and big hospitals maintain a registry of voluntary donors that lists about 300 to 500 donors, while the age for donating blood has also been increased from 60 years to 65 years, recently.”
Noting that awareness is increasing at a fast pace these days, Dr Jyotsna Codaty, HoD, transfusion medicine, Fortis Malar Hospital, advises the public to register themselves as volunteers in a nearby hospital to donate a particular component of the blood.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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