Retain voluntary donors, say experts

Mairi Thornton from UK urged for greater recruitment and retention of voluntary donors. In India, though, the problem acquires a gender twist: Upto 95 per cent of all donors are males. As per the MORI study, 83 per cent of donors are male students, followed by 74 per cent working males, 43 per centunemployed males and 40 per cent poor (not defined). Just four per cent of male donors are from the affluent class.

Dr Anil Lakhina, Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), suggested that each state draft its own draft blood policy, and stressed on a viable graded system of blood banks.

On the conference’s first day on Saturday, Dr Raja Ramanna, former director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, critiqued the Draft National Blood Policy, which is meant to streamline the national blood banking system.

“While the draft policy appears fairly comprehensive, it merely prescribes what should be done and how it is to be achieved. The draft contains nothing on how professional blood donors can be gradually replaced by voluntary donors,” he said. Dr Zarin Bharucha, chairperson of the organising committee stated, “Most of the recommendations made by the draft national policy need a far greater commitment to reforms than have been displayed. We need an action plan which will focus on centralisation and mergerof blood centres, improving infrastructure and increasing the use of information technology to upgrade the standards of blood transfusion here.”

Dr Uton Rafei, regional director, World Health Organisation, South East Asia Region International, added that in the recent years, the issue of blood transfusion has assumed urgent dimensions due to the HIV pandemic. “Blood transfusion causes between five to 10 per cent of HIV infections in the world. In India, seven per cent of AIDS patients reported to National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) after acquiring the infection due to a transfusion.” He stressed on greater community involvement and enhanced support from governments to tackle the challenges posed by unsafe blood.