Spurt in demand for Bombay blood group,7 units in week

In an unusual occurrence last week,blood banks in the city dealt with demands for at least seven units of the Bombay blood group,a rare blood type mostly prevalent in Maharashtras Konkan belt.

In an unusual occurrence last week,blood banks in the city dealt with demands for at least seven units of the Bombay blood group,a rare blood type mostly prevalent in Maharashtras Konkan belt. Normally,a request for this blood type which was first discovered at the citys KEM hospital in 1952 is a rare occurrence.

Request for this blood type is rare,we hear from patients once in a month,sometimes even once in three months. Last week we sent across seven units of blood to Bangalore. Another request came from a pregnant lady in Mumbai. It was a crazy week,and this does not happen normally. On a regular basis,it will be difficult as we do not have donors to cater to so many requests, said Vinay Shetty,vice president of the Think Foundation which is in regular touch with blood banks and works with thalessemia patients. Shetty has a list of 20 traceable donors for this blood type. Luckily,the request was for Bombay blood type RH +ve. The -ve antigen blood type is even more rare. I probably know only two people of this type, Shetty said.

According to the National Institute of Immunohaemotology (NIIH),which is based at KEM Hospital,there are not more than 45 people in Mumbai who are registered as having the Bombay blood group in the city.

As each donor will be able to donate blood ideally only once in three months,an increase in demand – even a brief spurt – makes it difficult for organisations to find eligible donors if the number of requests shoot up. Also,out of those registered at NIIH,not all are donors some are even babies or very old people.

According to NIIH,there may be around 200 known people of this blood type across the country although studies conducted by the institute has proved that in Mumbai alone,one in 8,000 may be of the Bombay blood group type.

It is difficult to get seven units in a week,calls to us are very rare maybe once in 3 months, said Dr Professor Kanjaksha Ghosh,director of the National Institute of Immunohaematology. Research conducted by the institute says that the blood type is most prevalent in the Konkan belt,more so in Ratnagiri,where one in 5,000 people carries this type,he said .

There may be many people of this blood type,but it has been difficult to identify them. Many of these donors were identified after they showed up at camps to donate blood,but their addresses and contact numbers were incomplete. The blood reports come much later and it is then that their blood type is identified and an entry is made with the NIIH, Shetty said.

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Despite the fact that this group is most prevalent in Mahrashtra,there have been requests from other parts of the world as well.

Around six months ago,we got a call from Lahore airport with a request for this blood type as a patient had fallen down bleeding at the airport. As the case was first detected in Mumbai,the city has the maximum number of documented donors of the Bombay blood group, said Ramdas Unhalekar,social worker with Redcross Mumbai.

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Spurt in demand for Bombay blood group,7 units in week

In an unusual occurrence last week,blood banks in the city dealt with demands for at least seven units of the Bombay blood group,a rare blood type mostly prevalent in Maharashtras Konkan belt.

In an unusual occurrence last week,blood banks in the city dealt with demands for at least seven units of the Bombay blood group,a rare blood type mostly prevalent in Maharashtras Konkan belt.