Voluntary blood donation suffers during poll season

AGARTALA: THE TRIPURA STATE BLOOD TRANSFUSION COUNCIL SAID THE DONATIONS FELL BY MORE THAN 20% SINCE JANUARY

Poll fever, coupled with the exam season, has affected voluntary blood donation in Tripura in the last two months, leading to acute shortage of blood in hospitals in the northeastern state which has, since 2009, been recognised by NACO as a leader in voluntary blood donation.

The Tripura State Blood Transfusion Council, which records blood donation data received by 10 blood banks of government hospitals, said there was more than 20% decrease in donations since January.

More than 24,000 units of blood were collected from donors at 632 camps held between April last year and February 2018, of which 86% was from voluntary donors.

While the average worked out to around 2,300 units per month, the highest was recorded in August (2,891), followed by November (2,467). The collection fell to 1,852 units in January and further to 1,564 units till 26th of February whereas state hospitals need an average of 2,700 blood units every month.

Dr Sanjib Deb, in-charge of Blood Transfusion Council, noted that there is a shortage every year due to the exams in March – April.

“This time, the problem worsened due to Assembly polls. Hospitals tried to cope up with the stored blood initially, but now blood banks of the hospitals are almost running dry,” he said.

Assembly elections were held on February 18, but campaigning started much before. Besides clubs and social organisations, a majority of blood donation is done by youngsters and security personnel, who were, this time, tied up in election activities.

Tripura has recorded more than 95% donation by voluntary donors since 2009, and was recognised by National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) as one of the highest in the category in the country. “We first got the appreciation letter from NACO in 2009. Since then, our state falls under A category in case of voluntary blood donation, as per NACO,” senior accountant of Blood Transfusion Council, Montu Pal said. He managed to convince around 20 members of different government employees’ organisations to donate 173 units of blood voluntarily. He also got 12 organisations, including some educational institutes, to donate 126 units of blood.

“We had no other go but to do this voluntarily. I requested employees personally to help us temporarily. We are grateful that they have responded to our plea,” Pal said.