Shortage of Blood hits Assam, Causes Concern Among Doctors

Shortage of Blood hits Assam, Causes Concern Among Doctors

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Assam is still short of nearly 29,000 units of blood against the annual requirement of 2,42,000 units to save lives thereby causing concern among doctors.

Sources in Assam State Blood Transfusion Council said the State needs 2,42,000 units of blood against the total number of hospital beds. Going by the norms of the World Health Organization (WHO), the total requirement will be around 3,10,000 units.

Altogether 2,13,668 units of blood were donated in the State during 2017-18 which was higher than 2,11,000 units donated in the previous year.

In 2018, as much as 1, 33,456 units of blood were donated by volunteers, which constituted 62.5 per cent of the overall donation quantum. Voluntary blood donation had increased from 70 per cent to 82 per cent in 2018 in the government blood banks.

The highest blood donation last year took place in Gauhati Medical College and Hospital Blood Bank with 32,462 units, followed by the Assam Medical College and Hospital Blood Bank with 24,008 units and the Silchar Medical College and Hospital Blood Bank with 20,320 units.

“Shortage of blood units against the total requirement is a matter of serious concern. Going by the WHO criteria, Assam actually needs over 3 lakh units of blood every year. But the State has been able to collect less than 2.5 lakh units of blood. There is a need to intensify blood donation campaign with innovation and strong messages to motivate more donors,” a doctor at GMCH said. He added there is still a misconception among a large number of people including even the educated ones about blood donation.

“Many think blood donation can make an individual weak and sick,” the doctor stated.

An owner of a private blood bank here said that there is a need to set up more blood banks in health institutions run by the government to facilitate donors to donate bloods without facing any hassles. He said while six districts including Majuli, Hojai, Udalguri and Baksa do not have any government blood bank, lack of adequate facilities has hit the effective functioning of blood banks in other districts.

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