Give the gift of life, donate blood

A blood donation occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and can be used for transfusions or made into bio pharmaceutical medications by a process called fractionation(separation of white-blood components). Donation may be of whole blood, or of specific components directly. Today in the developed world, most blood donors are unpaid volunteers who donate blood for a community supply.

If your blood type is:	You can give to:	You can receive from:
A Positive	A+, AB+	A+, A-, O+, O-
B Positive	B+, AB+	B+, B-, O+, O-
AB Positive	AB+ Only	All blood types
O Negative	All blood types	O- only

Blood Donors Eligibility

The Pros of Donating Blood

• Help Others

Blood donation is a voluntary act that all healthy adults can take part in. Donated blood is distributed to those in need of it, including people that suffer from severe loss of blood and people who have undergone extreme medical procedures.

• Renewable

Blood is renewable. It renews itself within the body, so the donated blood will not be a loss by the body. Donation time is approximately 45 minutes or less, and a person can donate blood every 56 days.

• Health Benefits

Blood donation has several health benefits. It reduces blood cholesterol level and sheds extras calories. The number of blood cells within the body decreases after blood donation. This stimulates the bone marrow to produce new and fresh blood cells to replace the lost cells.

The Cons of Blood Donation

• Painful

The insertion of needle into the veins can be painful. While some people find the needle poke unpleasant, others have a strong fear of needles. Others are even afraid to see blood.

• Weakness

A person may faint or feel dizzy after donating blood, but these symptoms are quite common. These feelings disappear quickly after the body makes more blood. Almost all blood donation centers have free snacks and juice to help the donor boost energy levels.

A common myth-people think that they can’t give blood because of their tattoos.

Due to lack of awareness, a large number of potential blood donors are being turned away by blood banks if they have got themselves tattooed or pierced. Recently many young people opting are going getting tattooed and body piercing and subsequently more than 5 per cent of the donors are rejected.

Reason: Blood donated by such people carries the risk spread of hepatitis B and in rare cases HIV and hepatitis C infections through unsanitary needles used for tattoos and body pierces.

Medical Opinion: The good news for tattooed blood donors, is that they can donate blood after six months/one year (depends on blood banks) of having undergone piercing or body art.

Root Cause

• In India lack of any regulation in tattoo facilities is also to blame.
• In USA, you may be able to donate blood if you got your tattoo at a state-regulated tattoo shop. State-regulated shops are routinely monitored for safe and sterile tattooing practices, so the risk of infection is low.

Lack Of Coordination Between Blood Banks and Hospitals Wasted 6 Lakhs Litres Of Blood In The Last 5 Years

A Right To Information (RTI) petition filed by activist Chetan Kothari with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) revealed serious loopholes in the nation’s blood banking system. In the last five years, over 28 lakhs units of blood and its components were discarded by banks across India.When calculated in litres, the 6% cumulative wastage translates to more than 6 lakhs litres of blood – which is enough to fill 53 tankers.On an average, India faces a shortage of 3 million units of blood annually. Lack of blood, plasma or platelets often leads to maternal mortality as well as deaths in case of accidents that cause serious blood loss.

State-wise spoilage by blood banks

The states that fared the worst in the country in terms of not only discarding whole blood, but even red blood cells and plasma as the life-saving components could not be used before their expiry date, were Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In 2016-17 alone, more than 6.57 lakh units of blood and its products were wasted.

The most troubling part is that 50% of the units wasted were of plasma, which has a shelf life of one year, much longer than the 35-day deadline by which whole  blood and red blood cells have to be used.

The only state to have crossed the one-million mark with regard to collection of blood units – Maharashtra – has also accounted for the maximum spoilage of whole blood, followed by the states of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.

The top three positions in the wastage of red blood cells were bagged by Maharashtra, UP and Karnataka, with the latter two also wasting the maximum units of fresh frozen plasma. Given that fresh frozen plasma is imported by several pharma companies to produce albumin, it is surprising that in 2016-17, over 3 lakhs units of the product were discarded.

Around 56,000 litres of blood and its components were wasted in Tamil Nadu in the last 5 years – which is 5% of the total donations made, but the government, in an effort to reduce wastage, is used in the process of drafting, the state’s first blood policy.

Reasons for spoilage

• The crisis of spoilage of blood can be blamed on the absence of a robust blood sharing network between banks and hospitals, according to crusaders of safe blood transfusion.

• In many states, donation camps involving thousands of participants are set up by local politicians to use them as a tools to please constituents.

Dr Zarine Bharucha of the Indian Red Cross Society pointed out that a collection of up to 500 units was acceptable and manageable.

“But we have seen and heard of camps where 1,000 to 3,000 units are collected. Where is the place to store so much blood? Why can’t people walk into regular banks and donate once every three months?” she said, as reported by The Economic Times.

However, the head of the directorate of health services in Maharashtra argued that the wastage could be a “noble health plan to curtail maternal deaths”.

“We have created more than 200 storage centres in interior areas for emergencies. We would rather be prepared to save a life than worry about unused units of blood,” he said.

• NACO revealed that in the past 17 months starting May 2016, 2234 persons across India were infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while getting blood transfusions.

• Though in some cases it is understandable that emergency stores of blood might go waste, spoilage in other areas, especially urban cities, where blood donation camps can be held at regular intervals cannot be justified.

• In a country where shortage of blood is on a rise, wastage of imported fresh frozen plasma is troubling. This not only poses a threat on the lives of those who might require a blood transfusion, but is also a monetary loss.

• All hospitals – private and public, blood banks and government authorities should implement proper regulations to prevent such loss in the future.