Red Cross starts Single Donor Platelet collection in B'luru

The Karnataka Red Cross Blood Bank has introduced Single Donor Platelet collection in Bengaluru where a single donor who has surplus platelet could come foward and donate just that component from his blood.

S Ashok Kumar Shetty, general secretary, Indian Red Cross Society, Karnataka said that according to WHO standards, a person must have a platelet count of 1.4 lakh.

Anyone with over two lakh platelets could donate. At a given point in time, about 50,000 platelets would be removed from a body.  “About 150 ml of blood would be taken out, the platelets would be separated and remaining part of the fluid would be sent back to donor body,” explained Shetty, adding that this would come in handy when there are dengue cases and the platelets drop sharply.

“The kit itself costs Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000. After operational costs are added to it, the cost accelerates to Rs 11,000 for single donor platelet process. However, Red Cross, Karnataka will do it at Rs 9,500. The patient's attenders only need to give us a call, come with donor and prescription to our branch at Race Course Road and have the procedure done on completion of the formalities,” he added.

Principal Secretary for the Department of Health and Family Welfare Department Shalini Rajaneesh inaugurated the Red Cross facility and said that the government would try to replicate a similar facility in its set up.

The Indian Red Cross Society will be managing seven Jan Aushadhi Stores which have been started under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Scheme. The manpower to run these stores across the city would be provided by the society. On September 22, the first of these would be inaugurated by Union Minister Ananth Kumar at the BBMP Maternity Home, N R Colony.