Army responds to Kidwai's plea for blood

The Indian Army has stepped in to help the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology after the hospital’s blood stocks declined by nearly 65% this week, due to the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown.

“With the lockdown in place, we could not organise blood donation camps or collect blood on our campus. This has led to a severe deficiency in our existing blood stocks,” said Dr Ramachandra C, director of the hospital.

“Although the number of our follow-up patients were dropping, we continued to get many new patients with cancer who require blood and blood component support. This complicated the situation,” the director added.

Desperate to find blood, the hospital reached out to the Indian Army for help.

The Ministry of Defense acted swiftly on the hospital’s request. A blood donation camp was organised by the Madras Engineers Group (MEG) on Friday at the MEG Centre in the city.

Dr Spurha D, Kidwai’s blood bank officer, said 116 units of blood had been collected and this would sustain the hospital for a week.

“We are in the process of writing to the General Officer Commanding of Southern Command for additional help. We hope to get more units of the Indian Army and the police to chip in,” Dr Spruha said.

"Until the crisis is over, and even beyond the crisis, if the regiments can support us, it can help thousands of people," Dr Spruha said.