VIJAYAWADA: Red Cross blood banks in Andhra Pradesh have developed a QR code system for the registration of donors and discussed with several college students in Vijayawada to form groups under a pilot project named ‘Blood Donors at Call’.All cardiac and neuro surgeries or treatment protocols for dengue require warm blood, which means blood drawn on that day from the donor. Hence, it has become tough to get blood of a particular group at odd hours to save a patient’s life.
Actually, the whole blood or components can be stored under a prescribed temperature for 35 to 45 days depending on the blood collection bag. It is natural that components in the blood collected degenerate slowly. The innovative idea of the Red Cross blood bank organisers to address such a dire situation of getting blood has started evoking a good response from donors.
Speaking to TNIE, BVS Kumar, State Coordinator of Red Cross Blood Banks and Projects, said to overcome the problem of getting warm blood they have approached several colleges and created awareness among students about blood donation. He appealed to all social activists and people working in medicare to download the Red Cross Blood App to find their required group blood donors during medical emergencies. The Red Cross is planning to extend the project to all the districts in AP, he said.
Ch Aditya, a student of KBN College, said, “After attending an awareness programme conducted by the Red Cross in our college, I scanned the QR code of my blood group which is AB+. Automatically, I joined the WhatsApp group of that group of blood donors. About 20 days ago, I received a phone call along with a message from the Red Cross team. I donated warm blood to a patient who was undergoing cardiac surgery at Ramesh Hospital. I felt proud to be a blood donor at a call.”
G Swapna of Mylavaram said they were worried when the doctors asked for two units of warm blood of AB + for cardiac surgery of her father-in-law. Then they approached the Red Cross Blood Centre through the AP Red Cross Blood App. Responding to the call, two students came and donated blood, she said, lauding the initiative of ‘Blood Donors at Call’.