In what it can be called as shocking news, Mumbai is facing a shortage of blood. Mumbai needs at least 25,000 donors to fufill its blood requirement.
Experts have claimed it as a crisis while talking to the Hindustan Times, Vinay Shetty, founder of Think Foundation, which organises blood camps in the city, said, “Many patients and their relatives called us through the month of April, saying even the blood banks don’t have blood. While the city faces shortage every year during summer and Diwali, the situation is serious this year.” Even the state-run JJ Hospital’s blood bank has no negative blood types available.
Due to the blood shortage, many thalassemia patients are facing trouble. Dr Mamta Manglani, who heads a facility, MCGM- Comprehensive Thalassemia Care, Paediatric Hematology-Oncology and Bone Marrow Transfusion Centre, Borivli, said told the Hindustan Times, “We are prioritising patients based on their haemoglobin levels. We are transfusing blood for patients who have haemoglobin levels less than 8 gram per decilitre (dl). The national guidelines, however, say that haemoglobin levels of thalassemia patients should be maintained at 9 gram per dl.” Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder caused when the body doesn’t make enough of a protein called haemoglobin, an important part of red blood cells.
