HYDERABAD: Who hasn’t received, shared or posted those requests for ‘Urgently need AB+ blood for a three-year-old child in Kukatpally’? Responding to such desperate pleas and the need to be able to find a solution is blooddonorslifesavers.org, a new website from a group of Hyderabadi youth who say that it is high time we centralise blood requirement and donations.
"It is an online platform where donors and recipients or patients could meet at one place online," says G Nagarjun Yadav who runs Navayuva Vidhyardhi Samakhya, a non-profit, non-commercial entity.
A BSc graduate who is pursuing LLB, Nagarjuna says he has been into the service of the community for a couple of years now. He has been helping child labourers to find a school and study. Now, with almost every day passing by with desperate calls for blood in some part of the city, he has decided to assimilate all the information together for the benefit of the public.
This 27-year-old from Saidabad who is into digital marketing said he started off with a Whatsapp group about a month ago with 120 regular blood donors. "We started sharing the information on social media channels and via WhatsApp, but I felt that this process can be scaled up to fulfill blood needs across the country and hence the website. We are also in the process of creating an app, but for now we have a mobile-friendly website through which one can easily understand where your donor is. We are also taking calls on +919966906663 until the website becomes popular and has more listings," he says.
Currently, they have a database of 3,500 donors, mostly in Hyderabad. The website opens with a quick search where one can place their request and the search throws up options of names of donors with their details and phone numbers.
"In just one step, the recipient or those in need will get to connect to the donors directly. We will also be informing the public about blood donor camps etc to do a blood donation drive, especially to encourage donation of plasma for Covid-19 affected," says Nagarjuna. In the near future, they plan to hire two telecallers who will do live coordination and background checkups for more effective results.
Nagarjuna also urges celebrities like actors, anchors and sportspersons with lakhs of followers to spend at least 20 minutes a month to talk about such issues, especially blood donation which can save a life. "There is a need to remind those who have recovered from Covid-19 to come forward and donate plasma. Like director SS Rajamouli and other celebs, more should come forward to give a few ml of their blood to the community."