Blood ties

Speaking about the same,the founder of the group,Subhash Satpute,says,“The idea of a blood donor website came along as an aftermath of the Mumbai attacks. Even though a lot of help started pouring in back then,we realised that Pune was not equipped to handle such emergencies where blood donors would be available on a large scale.”

While the idea for the website was conceptualised in 2008,the actual work began in May this year. “We spread the word and now have about 1200 donors registered already. We hope to rope in another 800 entries before officially launching the website,” says Sanjog Jadhav,one of the founder members of the group,who is also a software engineer.

The website,according to Satpute,will feature a minimum of 250 donors for every blood group. He elaborates,“Each registered donor will have a card with information about him/her,including his or her blood group and contact details. These details will not only be available on the website but also with major hospitals in the city so that they can be called during times of emergencies.”

Having already donated 2207 bottles of blood till date,the members of the group feel that the availability of donors will go a long way in addressing medical emergencies. “For instance,after the German Bakery blast,close to 280 volunteers and members of our group had donated blood. We hope this website will streamline the entire process of finding donors,” says Vrushali Rajhans,another founding member of the group.

While the website will be officially launched in two months,Satpute says that they hope to have more than the estimated limit of 2000 members on board. “It is one of the main reasons why we are not charging any kind of registration fee. We want more and more youngsters to come forward and register with us so that they too can work towards this noble cause,” he adds emphatically.

(Interested donors can send an email to bhararigroup.mission2015@gmail.com)