KATHMANDU, April 3: If you’re anywhere between 17 and 65 years of age and weigh at least 60kgs, you’re eligible to donate blood.
It was during a trip to New Road in Kathmandu three years ago when Anita Shrestha first donated blood. “There was a blood donation program going on and I just walked in,” says the 20-year-old resident of Thimi, Bhaktapur. Anita has donated blood five times since, the most recent being a month ago during a program organized by a finance cooperative company. [break]
Blood donation campaigns have started to multiply in the last couple of years in the Kathmandu Valley. Many organizations arrange blood donation programs, and educational institutions have also begun to participate in the drive to be of help to a person in need. Students are aware of the role they’re playing when they offer to help out a sick person.
It’s not feasible to say that people are still ignorant of the importance of blood donation, at least in urban areas. Keeping a minimum gap of three months, men can donate blood four times in one year while women are advised to donate only twice a year, this to balance the risk of iron deficiency.
In the annual progress report (2011/12) of the National Blood Transfusion Service, Nepal Red Cross Society, it states that it collected 177,195 units of blood in that year, and it was an increase of about 4.5% compared to the previous year. Male donors comprised 84.4% and female donors were 15.6%.
Established in 2011, Youth for Blood has helped more than 1,700 people till date. The foundation for the organization was laid when Saroj Karki, 22, was asked to find a blood donor for a friend.
“That’s when I discovered what an acute problem we had. There was no one willing to donate blood. There was no awareness and people simply weren’t interested to help. I felt the pain,” says the president of Youth for Blood. Saroj is a 2nd year student of journalism at Mahendra Morang Campus in Biratnagar where the organization is headquartered.
He started out with a few friends and now in the last two years, it has branched out to Kathmandu, Dharan, Lahan, Damak and Duhabi. Saroj first donated blood when he was 19, and has done it a total of 10 times. He says it’s only those in need who could tell how very important it is that we donate blood.
The Blood Transfusion Service (BTS) of Nepal Red Cross Society works in 62 districts in the country, with 85 blood banks in the districts. It has 21 district-level blood banks and 31 emergency units.
Blood banks organize donation programs, collect blood from donors which is then separated, typed and stored for use. A unit of blood is priced differently at private and government hospitals where a patient has to pay Rs 525 and Rs 510, respectively, according to BTS.
The debate about the price for the blood, which is given free of cost by donors, is ongoing with hospital authorities stating that it’s the technical aspect whose cost is being covered by the price. Chetraj Ojha, Medical Technologist at Teaching Hospital, says, “We charge Rs 760 for the blood test and when we get it from BTS, we add Rs 110 to their price of Rs 510. This is due to the cross match test that we do here.”
Ojha further says, “Most people who come here are between 20 and 40 years. Those in their 20s are still not a large number.”
3rd year General Medicine students of Nepal Institute of Medical Science and Technology, Mahendra Thapa and Jeevan Khatri were recently in the office of Blood Transfusion Service of Nepal Red Cross Society. The 19-year-olds were registering to organize a blood donation program at their college on April 5.
Mahendra says, “We talked it over with our teachers before coming here.”
“The Red Cross will be supporting us technically and we will organize the rest,” says Jeevan, for whom this will be a second time donating blood. With an estimated 70 students, they hope things will go as planned.
Willing persons are checked for health risks before they are allowed to donate blood. A healthy person with no lung, liver and heart diseases can donate blood. Those suffering from diseases like jaundice, malaria, typhoid, asthma, diabetes can’t donate blood, either. People under chronic medication and pregnant women also can’t donate blood.
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