Hospitals desperate for donors as lockdown hits blood banks hard

If social media messages, hospital pleas and mounting requirements are anything to go by, the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown has left those requiring blood in the lurch.

When Shivam (name changed), whose father, an inpatient at a cancer care hospital, needed blood on Monday, he had to pull his contacts, plead for help on social media and do community outreach to ensure he had enough donors. Though he got the required blood by Tuesday, he cannot forget the ordeal.

“We posted social media messages,” Shivam recalled. “I received multiple calls. Some (donors) wanted me to pick them up and drop them (back home) as there was no transport. They feared police action if they were to come on their own.”

The police caught one of the donors and seized his bike despite his explanations that he was going to donate blood for a patient in an emergency.

“He even offered to call the doctor treating my father. The police still asked for a selfie and some documents before letting him go,” Shivam recalled.

So bad is the impact of the lockdown on blood banks that they might run dry in a week.

“We are staring at a shortage,” declared Dr Ramachandra C, director, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology. “We have patients who need platelets and packed cells in particular.”

While it remains unclear if the government would lift or continue the lockdown, Dr Ramachandra said more blood is needed for backup.

The doctor said the hospital is willing to send the signed copy of the permission for willing donors who can show it to the police. “They need to just call us, and we will take care of the communication. Right now, we don’t even have volunteers,” he said.

Reason for shortage

Experts blame the shortage on multiple factors. “In some cases, donor families are afraid that they can contract COVID-19 while donating blood,” said Alphonse Kurian, manager, Lions Blood Line. “While in other cases, donors fear police action.”

He asked hospitals to issue permission letters with the donor’s name and vehicle details to make it easy for them to obtain police consent.