BENGALURU: With the onset of monsoon, there has been a sharp increase in the number of dengue cases in the city. As per the city’s Public Health Department, over 5,000 people are diagnosed with dengue.
Some of the patients’ families were even struggling to find platelets in blood banks or even hospitals. However, India’s first platelet donor line has come up, which is an initiative by Godrej HIT. The platelet donor helpline in Bengaluru has 1.25 lakh donors. Dengue patients seeking platelets can call on the HIT Platelet helpline 7878782020.
On receiving requests, registered donors are updated through calls and SMS. The platelet donor visits the patient directly at any hospital where s/he is admitted or the platelets are sent to the patient. They can also avail platelet transfusion at the nearest Apollo Hospital.
Sunil Kataria, CEO – India & SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products Limited, said, “Platelet donor helpline is India’s unique platform bringing donors and dengue patients together to help each other crowdsource platelets. It helps patients get platelets, which cannot be stored. We are happy to see that over the last one year, more than 1 lakh people have registered to be platelet donors, resulting in eight lives being saved. We consider it our responsibility to create mass awareness around how platelets are crucial during dengue and encourage more platelet donations.”
Helpline is also present in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad.