Post-flood Surat faces

But to his disappointment, the 2,800 units of blood stored at the bank were no more fit for use after the city went without power for five days. Due to lack of refrigeration, stored blood and its components like blood platelet concentrate and red blood cell concentrates were damaged.

The only thing that could be saved with the help of generators was frozen plasma.

8216;8216;We lost whole blood and its components, except for fresh frozen plasma. We knew we would not be able to save all the components, and so we proceeded methodically and saved only fresh frozen plasma with one refrigerator running on generator,8217;8217; says SRKRC director Snehalata Gupte.

A regional resource blood transfusion centre, SRKRC supplies blood not only to Surat but also to Bharuch and Narmada. 8216;8216;With threat of epidemic looming large on Surat, blood and its components are essentially needed,8221; Gupte says. They now plan to make up for the loss by organising blood donation camps.

Besides, there is a huge shortage of medicines.

The city is in the grip of water-borne diseases but government and private hospitals and private practioners have been facing shortage of medicines. At the Civil Hospital, close to 20,000 people have sought medical attention owing to fever, dysentery and skin ailments. Many hospitals were refusing to admit patients while chemists and medicine stockists pleaded helplessness as stocks in their flooded godowns had been destroyed.

Flood toll 300 and rising

8226; SURAT: The death toll in Surat is rising. Fifty-two more bodies were recovered on Sunday taking the total number of dead to 300. The number is expected to rise as 100 people from the Shabarinagar slums in Ghastipura area are still missing, sources said. 8212;ENS