For many, arranging blood in an emergency can be an ordeal, but for 34-year-old Deepak Garg, it takes only a few minutes. For the past 14 years, Garg has been arranging blood free of cost for those in need with the help of social media, the WhatsApp group he created, his Instagram page and his personal contacts.
A banker by profession, Garg is the founder of Jai Baba Di Blood Seva Society. He motivates people to donate blood and arranges blood for those in need. He gets more than 100 phone calls daily and arranges blood for 20 to 50 people daily. On average, about 25 units of blood are arranged every day.
“In the last 14 years, I have arranged lakhs of units of blood as, on an average, 300 units are arranged by me and my team per month. We get calls 24x7. We get daily SOS calls for accident cases, delivery cases of pregnant ladies, dengue cases, cases in which a patient gets a blood infection, besides others,” he said.
The society he heads now has 10 members, “friends who are devoted to the cause”, says Garg. The group holds blood donation camps on birthdays and other important occasions. A camp is also held on January 14 every year during the Maghi Mela in Muktsar.
“There are two local blood banks, including one at the Civil Hospital, but these are unable to meet the demand. I sometimes get requests from other places, so I have tied up with donors in other cities and also seek their help when need arises locally,” he adds.
Garg started his WhatsApp group in 2012. It now has contacts of more than 500 people across Punjab, mainly in Muktsar, Bathinda, Ludhiana, Kotkapura and other places, besides contacts outside the state.
The group also started a Facebook page, “Jai Baba Di Blood Seva Society”. The page now has 8,500 followers. Whenever someone donates blood, the person is photographed and thanked on the page for the gesture, with the aim of inspiring others to join the cause.
About two years ago, the group also started an Instagram page by the same name. It now has 860 followers. Garg encourages people in need of blood to leave a message on the page so that any one of the 10 members of his society can see the post and act swiftly to arrange the required blood.
“We had to adopt this new method as I and other members of the society received multiple phone calls in almost all cases to arrange blood for the same person,” he says.
Recalling how it all started, Garg says that when he was eight years old in 1998, he had gone with his father, Puran Chand Garg, a shopkeeper who runs a grocery shop in Muktsar, and saw his father donate blood to a relative of a gurdwara granthi at around 2 am.
“I asked my father why he donated blood. He told me that the person had to be operated on and if he had not given blood on time, he would have died,” says Garg, adding that his father had donated blood many times and continues to be a regular blood donor.
“My father used to be a donor, which earned him respect in society. So, I got the idea of arranging blood through my contacts. I am glad that I have saved some lives,” he says.
Garg, who has donated blood 32 times in the last 16 years, says, “Till date, our society has held forty blood donation camps in Muktsar and adjoining areas besides arranging blood for patients on a one-to-one basis.”
Garg has saved the contacts of donors along with their blood groups in his phone. “Whenever there is a need, I find the match in the phonebook and contact the persons concerned. I also post a message listing the blood group, patient’s name, hospital and ailment. Usually, donors come forward within minutes and reach the hospital,” he adds.
Citing examples of blood donations arranged by him, Garg recalls that about eight years ago, an accident took place between a Tempo Traveller and another vehicle on the Fazilka-Muktsar road. Around seven people were injured and four of them needed blood urgently. Garg arranged 16 units of blood for them.
In winter, when dengue cases start rising, he receives frantic calls for blood. He says more than 100 calls are received, but the group cannot arrange so much blood, as more than 1.50 lakh blood cells are required to donate blood for dengue patients.
During Covid, when the situation worsened in Delhi, many volunteers in Muktsar district received phone calls from the national capital seeking plasma for Covid-affected patients. Garg says that during that period, he received nearly 50 phone calls in one month requesting plasma, as people were struggling to get plasma from those who had recovered.
Garg says that in the last 14 years, he has also witnessed cases where family members shy away from giving blood to their own kin. If a wife is pregnant and her blood group matches that of her husband, he says the husband sometimes refuses to donate. The same happens in cases involving brothers and sisters and, at times, even parents refuse to give blood to their child when their blood groups match.
On October 11, the society is holding a play called “Bande Bano Bande” at Muktsar, in which around 600 people are expected to attend, including famous Punjabi artist Rana Ranbir.
“For the first time, we are holding a play. The reason is simple: we want people to join the cause of blood donation and also more family integration,” he adds.
Garg has also been honoured for his social work. A few years ago, at the National Conference on Voluntary Blood Donation in Karnal, then-Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar felicitated him. Last month, Punjab Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh honoured him at a state-level function in Chandigarh, recognising his NGO’s contributions.