Strengthening blood donation infrastructure

Hundreds of blood donors responded, and about 750 units of blood were donated in just a few hours of an appeal issued by hospitals, including Ahmedabad hospitals, after Thursday’s devastating plane crash, which is reflective of India making significant progress in generating awareness of blood donation. Many of the donors, including first-time donors, speak volumes about more and more people, particularly youth, joining the silent but most powerful and important social movement of selfless acts to save lives. Rising population, increase in road accidents, trauma injuries, chronic and critical ailments have pushed up the demand. Intensifying the awareness drive is crucial to bridge the demand-supply gap that continues to persist but has narrowed down. Spatial distribution of availability is a key factor influencing accessibility of donated blood by needy patients across regions. Building the required infrastructure for blood collection in all areas with inadequate blood bank facilities is essential to tap the potential created through campaigns run for building awareness on blood donation. Focusing on the community role in blood donation will help narrow the gap. Strengthening the blood bank and transfusion facilities in government hospitals plays a crucial role in reducing out-of-pocket expenditure of poor patients. Deployment of more mobile blood collection buses can significantly increase blood donation by taking the infrastructure to the doorsteps of donors. Mobile blood collection can improve blood donation in the Northeast region, where due to connectivity bottlenecks, there is a challenge in regular blood collection, particularly in hilly areas with blood banks located far away. Maintenance of these mobile blood collection facilities needs to be prioritised. As State Drugs Licensing Authorities are mandated to enforce regulations under the Drugs & Cosmetics Act for ensuring the safety and quality of blood collection, storage, and processing, strengthening the regulatory authorities with adequate and trained professionals assumes importance with a steady rise in blood donors and an increase in the number of blood banks. The Supreme Court mandated a complete ban on professional blood donation to eliminate the risk of transmission of disease through transfusion. Besides, mandatory testing of every unit of collected blood for five transfusion-transmissible infections – HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis, and Malaria – must be carried out as mandated by the SC for enhancing blood safety. Oversight mechanisms in blood collection, storage and blood transfusion are vital in ensuring all safety protocols. Busting of a blood-for-cash racket in Guwahati last year is a grim reality of critical gaps which were exploited by professional donors to dupe poor patients. Providing information about the availability of blood free of cost to visiting patients and their attendants in a proactive manner will go a long way in raising the level of awareness among them and empowering them to shield themselves from professional blood donors. On the part of the hospital, it will not be possible to know if the donor has come voluntarily or in lieu of money if the patients’ family members fall prey to them and conceal the information. The system is to replenish the blood in the blood bank against units provided. The hospital blood bank can ensure that donated blood is subjected to all mandatory tests and protocols before being stored as a safe unit of blood. Sustained awareness campaigns about the illegality of involving professional blood donors can empower the poor and underprivileged patients. The hospitals prominently displaying the information on safe and voluntary blood donation and providing the information at the time of registration in the form of a leaflet along with registered documents and messages to the registered mobile number can be useful in raising the awareness level. It will also help motivate more people to come forward for voluntary blood donation to save lives. Participation in blood donation camps organised by NGOs helps increase the number of donors. The challenge is to motivate every single donor to become a regular voluntary donor so that replenishment rates in blood banks can be improved and hospitals can expect to receive adequate blood donations in emergency situations. The Northeast region being located in an earthquake-prone zone, the preparedness for emergency healthcare and, more particularly, trauma injuries is a key requirement for disaster management and reducing casualties. Parallel to the creation of the blood collection, storage and transfusion infrastructure, the region having a high number of voluntary blood donors is of paramount importance. Roping in panchayats and various local bodies, traditional and cultural institutions, and educational institutions to build the awareness will help increase the number of voluntary donors in the region. Leveraging digital technology in creating a robust and dynamic database of all blood donors in the region will help hospitals and blood banks to mobilise required units to meet their requirements. Making the database public and updating information whenever a regular donor migrates to a new place and about the addition of a new donor will also help improve real-time accessibility of donated blood.