Mumbai: A 24-year-old youth has spent the last four days looking for six blood bags for his uncle, who is scheduled to undergo cardiac bypass surgery at a public hospital in the city. “I donated one unit of blood, but my friends who came as voluntary donors were turned down as they had recently got a tattoo,” he said. He then bought three bags from a private blood bank, but still needs two more bags.In another public hospital, Ramesh Shinde (name changed) was told to arrange four bags of blood for his father’s gastrointestinal surgery. “I made dozens of calls to various public blood banks, but none could spare any unit for me. I finally bought the four bags from a private blood bank and deposited it at the public hospital,” said Ramesh. Ideally, both should have got blood for free at the civic hospitals that their patients are admitted to.These are not the only family members facing hardships in arranging blood for their patient. In public hospitals, blood isn’t easy to access, said multiple family members.The demand for blood shoots up during rains, but the problem this time around, according to blood bank officials, is the recently ended scorching summer. “Many blood donation drives were rescheduled because of the heat wave. As a result, many banks don’t seem to have adequate stock,” said a doctor from a BMC-run hospital.Dr Suhas Mohnalkar from the State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) said that Mumbai requires 1,100 bags of blood daily. “We manage to get to that number, but there could be individual banks that have shortages because they haven’t conducted blood drives on their own,” he said.A doctor from a municipal hospital medical college claimed that there is a 23% drop in blood available for thalassaemia patients. “Both BMC and state govt hospitals are not collecting enough blood for thalassaemia patients registered at the bank for free transfusion as mandated by the govt. Even accident and surgery patients find it difficult to get blood bags,” he said.The closure of the state-run JJ Mahanagar Blood Bank due to safety concerns raised by the Food and Drug Administration has worsened the shortage, said an official. “Mahanagar bank would organise multiple camps that would help public hospitals,” he added. A state govt official said every blood bank can organise donation drives, but many are not doing so, putting patients and their families in distress.
