In coronavirus times, doctors give blood to fight shortage in Karnataka

Realising the gravity of the situation, the resident doctor, along with other undergraduate and postgraduate students at the hospital, took the lead to donate blood. 
​The moment the doctors were alerted, they decided to form groups and donate blood.
​The moment the doctors were alerted, they decided to form groups and donate blood.

BENGALURU: Doctors at Victoria Hospital here, who are on the front lines in the war against Covid-19, are fighting a battle on another flank too — dealing with shortage of blood. Due to the lockdown, no blood donation camps were held over the past few months and blood banks across the city were facing a severe shortage.

The one at Victoria Hospital was left with only six bags of blood on June 6. Realising the gravity of the situation, the resident doctor, along with other undergraduate and postgraduate students at the hospital, took the lead to donate blood. 

Though the hospital did not require blood, as it has become a designated Covid-19 hospital, the demand from other hospitals was high and other blood banks were running short of blood. 

The moment the doctors were alerted, they decided to form groups and donate blood. Over the past week, the Victoria Hospital blood bank has collected about 35-40 pints of blood. 

Doctors form groups to donate blood 

Dr Nandish Kumar S, from the Community Medicine Department at the hospital, said, “We got to know that we had blood shortage in hospital, with only six bags left. Vani Vilas Hospital too, which requires blood for cases like anaemia during pregnancy or maternal and child health cases, was facing a shortage. Many other hospitals are also facing severe shortage of blood as blood donation camps are not being held. So, we formed groups and went ahead with the donation. We are glad that the blood bank has some stock now.”

Dr Dayanand Sagar, president of the Karnataka Resident Doctors’ Association said, “Patients with thalassemia, haemophilia, chronic illnesses, infections like dengue or even the trauma centre, need a lot of blood. When we realised there is a shortage, we thought of having a blood donation camp. But we decided against it due to the possibility of crowding and instead, we donated blood ourselves.”

“Doctors on Covid-19 duty are not allowed to donate blood. But after completing their turn, they too are coming forward now. All the resident doctors are participating and more than 20 doctors have donated blood in the past week,” he added.

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