Drops of Life

A new online initiative aims to make blood search faster and easier via Facebook.

Ankita Trivedi was a product design student at MIT,finishing her last year of the course and on her way to a design career. She should have been thrilled,poised as she was,on the brink of the future ahead. But Trivedi was consumed with the need to search for blood,so her father could have a much-needed liver transplant. It was very difficult to find people of that blood group and to find people who were willing. It was then that I realised how crucial is the need to raise more awareness about blood donation,and why the whole process needs to be faster, she says.

A month ago,Trivedi was introduced to an online movement,Blood Search Made Easy,by one of her friends. He showed her a video which gave instructions on how to change a persons name on Facebook so it would also include their blood group. This creates an international blood bank list which is not only blood group-specific but also city-specific. So,at any time,if someone were to look for a particular blood group in a particular city,say O negative in Pune,all they would have to do was type O negative in to the Facebook search bar and then click on all results that said Pune. Now my hope is that other people will benefit from it. I have told all my friends and am campaigning for the movement and a lot of people,especially students are now changing their names in Facebook, says Trivedi.

People have turned to Facebook and Twitter earlier as well,for help in their blood search. They would update their status messages to ask their friends whether anyone belonged to the same group and was willing to donate blood. But this was a lengthy process,and they often had to wait for people to reply to the message and then those people might not be of the same group or in the same city.But with the new movement,it’s easier to cut to the chase and simply look for the right person in the right place.

The movement is a new initiative,called Blood Search Made Easy,a project developed by Mumbai-based Red Cross India (RCI) in collaboration with advertising firm,Ogilvy and Mather. Dr Narinder Kaur Naidu,the medical director of RCI,a firm that has branches in Pune too,says,We are still waiting to see how much of an impact this has on the cause,but at the very least,were hoping to generate awareness about problems such as rare blood groups or other blood group shortage.

One of Trivedis friends,Sameer Gaikwad,a student at DSK International School of Design,also came from a family that went through a bad experience while searching for blood. Its very awkward,asking even family members or friends for blood,because they might not want to do it. Its better to go to a blood bank or find people from a list,because you know they are already willing to donate blood, he says. He changed his name on Facebook around the same time that Trivedi did as well. For Gaikwad though,its not just about being a donor. Im also doing this to raise awareness about blood donation, he explains.

For instructions on how to include blood groups on Facebook profiles,search YouTube for a video titled Blood Search Made Easy.

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